Carers Rights Day: Third of carers put in 50 hours a week

Almost one in three carers are caring for a loved-one for over 50 hours a week while 9% had given up work and 7% reduced their hours, a survey has found.

An Ipsos Mori poll conducted for today’s Carers Rights Day found that carers spent 27 hours a week caring on average and had been caring for an average of six and a half years. The company surveyed over 650 current or past carers as part of a wider poll of 4,000 adults last month.

A separate survey of 350 carers by Carers UK, which organises Carers Rights Day, found over a third of carers are not getting the benefits they are entitled to because they do not know they can claim them.

Half of this group said not getting these benefits had affected their health, while 20% said they would not now be in debt had they claimed.

Carers UK chief executive Imelda Redmond said: “Caring can take a massive toll on carers’ finances. Whilst facing hugely reduced incomes from giving up work or reducing their hours, carers face all the additional costs of care.”

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