Campaign calls for tax breaks for carers

Community Care is asking the social care sector to support a campaign calling for tax breaks for workers with caring responsibilities.

The campaign is also backed by Personnel Today magazine, which is published by the same company as Community Care.

It plans to deliver a petition to the government at a conference in November urging it to include tax breaks for carers in the 2007 comprehensive spending review.

Charities Carers UK and Working Families, plus employers including BT and Ford, also support the campaign.

Mike Berry, online news editor at Personnel Today, said: “Carers play a valuable role in society and the workplace, in the majority of cases without any financial assistance from the government.

“With the extension of flexible working rights to carers from next year, it makes sense for them to benefit further with the introduction of a voucher scheme.”

Find out more about the campaign

Social care employers must support staff who are carers or face major recruitment and retention issues, says Association of Directors of Social Services lead on carers and director of adult care services at Hertfordshire Council, Sarah Pickup

Nearly one in five of the workforce are also carers in Pickup’s department,

 Most carers are working and the peak age to acquire caring responsibilities is “between 45 and 55”, according to chief executive of Carers UK, Imelda Redmond.

Special report: the plight of carers