Why 1,500 Britons a Day Are Leaving Work to Care
About 1,500 Britons a day are leaving paid jobs to become unpaid carers, with more than 1 million exits in the past two years. The figures come from Carers UK research reported on 15 September 2026 The Guardian. The exit rate has doubled in seven years.
Carers UK puts the yearly economic cost at £37bn to the UK. The estimate covers lost earnings, tax revenue not collected and extra welfare spending linked to leaving the labour market to provide care.
Around 20% of UK adults, or 11 million people, report unpaid care duties. One in five employees, or 6.7 million people, balance paid work with unpaid care for family or friends. Those totals cover everyone at risk of exit, not only those who have already left.
Among those doing both, many adjust work before leaving. In the Carers UK survey, 22% had reduced their hours to manage work and care. About one in 10 had turned down a promotion or taken a lower-paid role to stay in work.
Carers UK has called for a legal right to 10 days of paid carer's leave a year for employees. The proposal would create a paid and job-protected leave right. It would sit apart from unpaid carer's leave and the right to request flexible working, in the same way holiday leave sits apart from sick leave.
The government opened a consultation on new rights for unpaid carers and parents of seriously ill children, with a closing date of 1 September 2026 UK Government. In its consultation materials in June, the government cited 2.8 million unpaid carers balancing work and care. That lower figure reflects a narrower official definition than the survey-based estimates published this month.
Carers UK estimates that 1.7 million people provide 50 hours or more of unpaid care a week BBC. Research from the Centre for Care found that 4.3 million people became unpaid carers each year between 2010 and 2020 Carers UK.
The broader context here is labour supply and fiscal risk, not welfare policy alone. With more than a million exits in two years, plus reduced hours and moves to lower-paid roles for millions more, the effect shows in participation rates, skills retention and household income security. A 10-day paid entitlement would test whether short, defined help cuts full exits or only delays them. Employers face questions about replacement costs, flexible rostering and keeping experienced staff with care duties. What policymakers and firms will need to weigh next is who can afford to use leave, which sectors can absorb absence, and whether pay rates make the right usable for lower-paid workers most exposed to exit.
