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Unpaid Carers in the UK: Why Work Without a Payslip Still Counts

Writer: Women of our Time
Women of our Time
1 day ago
8 min read
Two people hug on a city street beside a Womeniverse graphic reading A Global Community and Connecting. Growing. Belonging.
Unpaid carers in the UK provide care worth an estimated £184.3 billion a year, roughly equivalent to the entire NHS budget across all four nations.

Hello and welcome to this week's WOOT blog. This one is for every woman who has been asked "so, what do you do?" and felt a flicker of dread before answering. Who cares for a parent, raises children, runs a home, or volunteers her time, and has learned to brace for the slight drop in interest when she explains that none of it comes with a job title. Who has quietly wondered why work only seems to count when someone else is paying for it.


The Reality for Unpaid Carers in the UK

Research from Carers UK and the Centre for Care estimates that unpaid carers provide £184.3 billion worth of care every year across the UK. That is £64.9 billion more than in 2011, an increase of 29.3%, and close to the £189 billion combined NHS budget across the four UK nations in 2021/22. The Centre for Care


The impact on paid careers is significant too. Carers UK's State of Caring 2025 survey found that 69% of carers who were employees said they had not focused on their career as much as they would like, while 21% had taken a lower-paid or more junior role that fitted better around their caring responsibilities. Carers UK


And this burden is not evenly distributed. Census 2021 data for England and Wales found approximately 3 million female unpaid carers compared with 2 million male unpaid carers. Office for National Statistics


For eligible carers in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, Carer's Allowance is currently £86.45 a week for providing at least 35 hours of care. That works out at less than £2.50 for every hour of the minimum caring commitment. Scotland now provides Carer Support Payment instead, worth up to the same basic weekly amount, with additional Scottish support available. GOV.UK


This is not a footnote to the economy. It is a significant part of the backbone of it, provided almost entirely by people who will never see its full value reflected on a payslip.


What Do We Actually Mean by Work?

The word "work" has quietly narrowed over time to mean one thing: paid employment, with a job title, a line manager and a salary.


Everything else, caring for a parent, raising children, running a household, volunteering for a cause you believe in, gets filed under something softer. Something that doesn't quite count.


But work, properly understood, is activity carried out with responsibility, purpose and commitment.

By that measure, the woman managing a parent's medical appointments alongside a part-time job is doing work. So is the woman who has stepped back from paid employment to raise young children, or the woman building a charity's volunteer programme in her evenings.


The job title was never the thing that made it real.


Why Unpaid Work Matters More Than It Sounds

This is not just an argument about semantics.


A narrow definition of work shapes what support exists, what confidence someone carries into a room and how a CV gets written after a career break.


Women who have spent years in unpaid work often approach the question "what do you do?" apologetically, as though the skills built there, negotiation, crisis management, project coordination, budgeting, advocacy and planning under real pressure, somehow don't belong on the same footing as a job description.


They do.


This also affects re-entry into paid work directly. Skills built through caring, parenting, volunteering or running a home rarely make it onto a CV in language that translates, not because the skills aren't there, but because nobody taught women how to name them in terms an employer recognises.


There is a difference between claiming that unpaid caring is identical to a paid professional role and recognising that it develops genuine, transferable skills.


You don't have to inflate what you did.


You just need to stop erasing it.



Explore More with Women of Our Time



The Redefining Work Toolkit: Naming What You Actually Do

You don't need to invent new skills for any of this. You need to recognise, and name plainly, the ones you already have.


1. The Skills Translation

Instead of: the apologetic gap.


If your CV or LinkedIn profile has a blank space where paid employment would normally sit, start by looking at what you were actually doing during that period.


Were you managing appointments? Coordinating several professionals? Budgeting? Advocating for somebody? Managing conflicting priorities? Organising transport? Handling paperwork? Making decisions under pressure?


Translate those responsibilities into language an employer understands.


"Managed a household budget through a period of reduced income" is budgeting and financial planning under pressure.


"Coordinated medical appointments and communication between multiple services" is organisation, administration and stakeholder communication.


"Advocated for a family member across health and social care services" is advocacy, communication and problem-solving.


None of that requires pretending caring was a corporate job.


It simply requires naming the skills honestly.


2. The Answer That Doesn't Apologise

Instead of: the deflecting response.


Someone asks what you do, and the instinct is to minimise the answer before you've even finished saying it.


Prepare for that moment in advance.


You might say: "I care for my mother and manage her care full time."


Or: "I'm currently raising my children and volunteering with a local charity."


Or: "I work part time alongside caring for a family member."


No "just".


No embarrassed explanation.


No need to make it sound smaller before anybody else has had the chance to decide what they think of it.


The confidence in how something is said can shape how it is received more than most people expect.


3. The Rights Check

Instead of: assuming there's nothing to ask for.


Carers are often unaware of the support and employment rights that may apply to them.

If you are an employee caring for someone with a long-term care need, you may have a statutory right to up to one week of unpaid Carer's Leave every 12 months. It is a day-one employment right and can be taken as a whole week, individual days or half days. GOV.UK


Depending on your circumstances and where you live, financial support may also be available through Carer's Allowance, Carer Support Payment, Universal Credit or other benefits and local support.


Check.


Do not assume that because nobody has mentioned support to you, none exists.


4. The Value Conversation

Instead of: silent resentment.


Inside many households, unpaid work is simply assumed to happen.


Somebody remembers the appointment.


Somebody does the school forms.


Somebody notices the prescription is running out.


Somebody rearranges their workday when care falls through.


Somebody knows where everything is.


Often, that invisible work only becomes visible when the person doing it stops.


If unpaid work feels seriously unbalanced in your household, have the conversation.


Not necessarily as a calculation of who owes whom what, but as an honest examination of what is being done, how much time it takes and what would happen if it had to be replaced externally.


Naming the work makes it easier to share the work.


5. The Community of Peers

Instead of: isolation.


Unpaid work often lacks something paid employment provides automatically.

Colleagues.


There is nobody sitting beside you who knows what happened yesterday. Nobody to say, "that was a difficult day". Nobody who understands why successfully getting someone to an appointment felt like an achievement.


Seek out other people who understand the reality of what you are doing, whether that is caring, parenting, volunteering or another form of unpaid work.


The isolation of unpaid work is real.


Finding people who understand it without requiring a twenty-minute explanation can make a genuine difference.


Your Skills Did Not Disappear Because Your Salary Did

One of the cruellest parts of stepping away from paid employment is how quickly professional confidence can start to disappear with it.


You stop having a job title.


You stop getting annual reviews.


Nobody emails to tell you that you've done an excellent job navigating three hospital departments, two schools, a benefits application and a household budget in the same week.


There is no promotion waiting after five years of keeping somebody else's life functioning.


That absence of formal recognition does not mean nothing was being learned.


You may have become better at negotiation.


Better at advocacy.


Better at organisation.


Better at staying calm when plans collapse.


Better at reading people.


Better at prioritising when everything feels urgent.


Better at making limited resources stretch further.


Those things do not stop being skills simply because nobody issued you a payslip for using them.

And if you decide to return to paid work, you are not necessarily starting from wherever you left off.


You may be bringing considerably more with you than you realise.


You Don't Have to Navigate This Alone

If this post has you rethinking how you answer "so, what do you do?", you are exactly who Womeniverse™ is for.


Womeniverse™ is the Women of Our Time community where women support women at work and in life, and where work has never meant only paid employment.


Carers, volunteers, women raising families, women on career breaks, employed women and self-employed women are all doing work here.


And all are welcome here.


Inside you will find:

  • peer support from women whose work has not always come with a job title

  • guidance on employment rights, flexible working and carers' rights

  • practical support for translating unpaid experience into language employers recognise

  • conversations about returning to work and rebuilding professional confidence

  • a community that never assumes work means a payslip



Here’s how you can take the first step: 


Join the Womeniverse for £30/year (currently FREE) → https://www.womenofourtime.uk/women-of-our-time-community

 

 

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Your Only Agenda is You.


With support, The Women of Our Time Team


P.S. If you know a woman who deflects the question "what do you do?", send her this. Her answer counts.



Click or Scan the QR Code Below to join the Womeniverse™

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People Pleasing: Frequently Asked Questions


Q. Does unpaid caring count as work?

A. Unpaid caring may not come with a salary or formal job title, but it can involve substantial responsibility, time and skill. Managing appointments, coordinating services, advocating for someone, budgeting and responding to emergencies can all develop valuable transferable skills.

A. Focus honestly on what you did and the skills involved. Depending on your circumstances, that might include organisation, advocacy, budgeting, administration, problem-solving and coordinating health or care services. You do not need to disguise caring as paid employment. The aim is to show employers what you learned and what you can bring to a role.

A. Support depends on your circumstances and where you live. Eligible carers may be able to access financial support such as Carer's Allowance in England, Wales and Northern Ireland or Carer Support Payment in Scotland. Employed carers can also have rights including unpaid Carer's Leave.

A. Yes. Carers UK found that 69% of employed carers surveyed said caring had prevented them from focusing on their career as much as they would like, while 21% had taken a lower-paid or more junior role to accommodate their responsibilities. Recognising the effect caring has had can be an important first step when planning what you want next.

A. Yes. Womeniverse™ is designed to support women across work and life, including unpaid carers, women raising families, volunteers and women taking or returning from career breaks. Members can access peer support, practical resources and the Women of Our Time Support Hub.



 
 
 

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