In one of the most moving chapters of his party conference speech, Andy Burnham spoke directly to the poorly paid, overworked and under-appreciated care workers who are – despite the odds – holding Britain’s fragile social care system together.
Warning that politicians had failed to acknowledge their contribution to our society, the Prime Minister told these men and women “you’re not invisible to me”. He said his promise to fix social care, to provide a universal system that’s free at the point of use, would not only benefit the elderly people who use it but the workers who would finally be given the respect they deserve. The triple lock state pension may go to pay for it, he said, but it is a trade-off that’s worth it.
The group set to be the biggest beneficiary of this big care shake-up, though, did not get any specific mention in the Labour leader’s speech. Indeed, women can often feel invisible in the care debate.
Women’s lives – their careers, their financial security, social connections and even their own health and vitality – are dictated by their silent role as the country’s unpaid care force. According to the Women’s Budget Group, women’s participation in unpaid care is costing the economy £100bn a year.
Elderly care is rarely a choice, it is undertaken as an obligation and a necessity. The social care system is too threadbare, too risky, too chaotic, to fulfil its duties without the support of family members. That is more likely to fall on women, and being the support that holds everything together comes at a cost. Women are twice as likely as men to reduce their hours or stop work altogether to take up caring responsibilities,
Evidence from studies compiled by the charity Carers UK reveals how, under the current system, the cycle of caregiving dominates women’s lives. We think of mothering being a short chapter to be cherished, but that’s not the end of women’s sublimation to the needs of others. The crunch points keep coming: women aged between 55 and 59 provide the most unpaid care, with one in five in that age group defined as a carer. Older women themselves are providing the highest hours of unpaid care, with women aged 75-79 more likely to provide more than 50 hours of care than any other age group. And since 2011 there has been a steady increase in the number of women over 85 – over 85! – providing care. There is never an end to it. By comparison, only between 7.6-9 per cent of men in England and Wales provide unpaid care across all age groups, according to the Office for National Statistics.It’s a very big ambition. But the impact of an at-home, free to access service, and one that can be relied upon to serve, will be radical. Practically, physically, economically.
Burnham has not yet detailed how his national care service will be paid for (though has said savings from the triple lock will go towards it, economists say that will cover less than a fifth of the cost of delivery), but if the service is effective then the tax take from a generation of re-liberated mid-life women will shoot up. The policy is designed as an offer to pensioners. Its biggest beneficiaries are three decades younger.
Freed from the pressure of a life that involves three or four decades of comprised decision-making, where the needs of first children and then elder parents are factored into every choice they take about how to make and spend money, women will thrive. They will have the freedom to take risks, to start businesses, to be entrepreneurial. They will have the confidence to apply for jobs without the risk of discrimination because of the shape of their family, and the life stages they are reaching. They will have the energy to work harder – for themselves, and for the wider economy.
It would be invigorating to see Burnham thinking even bigger. It appears the care service he plans will have limits: when the Prime Minister was questioned about it on Wednesday morning’s media rounds he began talking about it as a service “for older people”. The care impact is much broader than that. What about the 47 per cent of mothers of children with special educational needs and disabilities who leave work to cope? What about the women who are caring for friends and family who are sick or disabled, but not old?
Still, if Andy Burnham wants us to feel hope, here it is. I stand at the cusp of becoming a new member of the sandwich generation – a woman with young children and now older parents. The prospect of a national care service doesn’t only feel like acknowledgement, but also a relief. Women weren’t mentioned in Burnham’s speech, but you can bet they were listening.
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