Carers who give up or scale down work are losing out on up to £6,400 a year

One in ten of 1,000 carers who took part in a survey had given up work completely to look after a relative – while a further two out of ten had reduced their working hours.

The survey, carried out by retirement specialist Just Group, shows that fewer than four in ten said their work life carried on as normal; the remainder were either retired or had not been working previously.

The survey found male carers were more likely than female to say their work life carried on as usual.

Of those who had stopped or reduced work, a quarter said it had cost them up to £200 a month and a third between £201 and £500 a month.

The average amount in lost salary was £539 a month, or £6,468 a year, and one in six carers said giving up work to care for a relative had cost them £1,000 a month.

One in five of the carers who had reduced or stopped work claimed Carer’s Allowance, a benefit worth £81.90 a week, or £4,259 a year to those providing at least 35 hours a week care for a severely disabled person provided their earnings are less than £151 a week.

Just Group said that half knew about the benefit but did not claim it, while a quarter had heard of it but were not sure how it worked. Only 10% had not heard of Carer’s Allowance.

Stephen Lowe, group communications director at Just Group, said: “The economic benefit to the country from informal care is put at billions of pounds a year. But the vast majority of workers receive no direct support for the hours of caring they put in. It is literally a labour of love.”

He urged carers to check their eligibility for Carer’s Allowance as it is set to rise next year.

The weekly amount paid will go up to £83.29 the same as around seven hours of the National Living Wage of £12.21 an hour. There will also be a rise in the earnings limit of £45 to £196 a week, so £10,192 a year.

The government said the changes will result in 60,000 more carers eligible for the benefit by 2029/30 while the 1.4 million currently claiming will be able to earn more from work before losing eligibility.

“The amount of income and opportunity being lost due to people caring is immense, not just at a personal level but for the country as a whole in terms of lower economic activity and productivity,” said Mr Lowe.

“It reinforces the importance of putting in place a permanent ‘fix’ for social care. The more that people are able to plan and pay for themselves to receive the care they aspire to, the less the responsibility on family members and the country as a whole to look after them.”