| Abstract: |
In the context of global population ageing, the reconciliation of employment
and unpaid caring is becoming an important social issue. The estimation of the
public expenditure costs of carers leaving employment is a valuable measure
that is of considerable interest to policy-makers. In 2012, the Personal
Social Services Research Unit estimated that the public expenditure costs of
unpaid carers leaving employment in England were approximately £1.3 billion a
year, based on the costs of Carer’s Allowance and lost tax revenues on forgone
incomes. However, this figure was known to be an underestimate partly because
it did not include other key benefits that carers who have given up work to
care may receive. This paper presents a new estimate of the public expenditure
costs of carers leaving employment. Key sources of information are the 2009/10
Survey of Carers in Households, 2011 Census and 2015/2016 costs data. As well
as Carer’s Allowance, the estimate also now includes the costs of other
benefits that carers leaving work may receive, namely, Income Support and
Housing Benefit. The results show that the estimated numbers of carers who
have left employment because of caring have increased from approximately
315,000 to 345,000. Due mainly to the inclusion of a wider range of benefits,
the public expenditure costs of carers leaving employment in England are now
estimated at £2.9 billion a year. The new estimate comprises £1.7 billion in
social security benefits paid to people who have left their jobs because of
unpaid caring, plus another £1.2 billion in taxes forgone on this group’s lost
earnings. The paper concludes that, if there was greater public investment in
social care, such as ‘replacement care’ to support carers in employment, and
fewer carers then left employment, public spending on benefits would be lower
and revenues from taxation would be higher. |