Oxfordshire unpaid carers say proposed bill ‘a good start'

A proposed law to give long term unpaid carers more support in employment is a good start but not enough, according to carers in Oxfordshire.

The Carer's Leave Bill would give the carers the right to up to a week's unpaid leave from employment.

Carers UK found that 75% of carers worry about juggling work and care.

Oxfordshire County Council is writing to local MPs to support the legislation. Leader Liz Leffman said carers were "vitally important".

The bill, proposed by Liberal Democrat MP Wendy Chamberlain, would entitle an employee to the leave during any period of 12 months in order to provide or arrange care for a dependant with a long-term care need.

Rebekah Zammett, from Banbury, is a carer for her son Jack who has cerebral palsy and other complex needs.

She left a previous job after her employer wanted her to work extra hours to make up for taking time off to support her son after major surgery.

"He might have a planned surgery which will involve him being in hospital for a time and then needing a period of recuperation at home," she explained.

"If I am at that point in time in a paid job, then I need some time away from that to fulfil my caring responsibilities and it can be really difficult to find an employer who has an awareness or understanding of what caring actually is.

"There is a fundamental acknowledgement from the government that carers are valuable and that they're valuable as employees and as workers and they're also valuable as carers.

"The fact that it's unpaid is really disappointing. In order for there to be a true value placed on carers, that should come with a financial package."

John Hoskin, from Carterton, works for the RAF and cares for his wife.

He said: "It can be quite stressful when you're holding a full time job and then you've got to go home and look after your loved one.

"I'm very lucky being in the RAF. There's so much support if you need it, they're always looking out for me.

"The unpaid week's leave is a good idea but why can't we have it paid? In today's climate people are struggling."

Carers save the economy £132bn a year, but according to Carers UK at least 600 people give up work to care for a loved one every day.

Emily Holzhausen, director of policy and public affairs at Carers UK, said: "Of course longer term we would love to see it paid... now for businesses and employers that are short of staff, this directly helps with retention, reduces your need to recruit or it offers a bigger recruitment pool for you."

Ms Leffman said: "With 61,000 people caring for people across the county, you can see that there's a huge number of people involved in looking after friends and relatives, and we want to do our best to look after them.'"

Wantage MP David Johnston (Conservative), Witney MP Robert Courts (Conservative) and Oxford West and Abingdon MP Layla Moran (Liberal Democrat) have all told the BBC they are supporting the Bill.

Conservative MP for Henley John Howell is also supporting it.

"I am encouraged that the Bill has support across the House of Commons", he said.

Follow BBC South on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. Send your story ideas to [email protected].