Unpaid carers provide an invaluable service to society, and yet encounter a financial penalty. Using data from Understanding Society, this report sheds light on the carer pay penalty by determining its magnitude, causes, and distribution, as well as its evolution over time.

The report also investigates the extent to which existing policies mitigate the penalty and considers the potential for new policies to go further in supporting the incomes of those who make up the human foundations of our economy.

We focus on two broad groups of carers: those who care for someone who is sick, disabled or elderly and those who care for a child who is not sick or disabled. We call these ‘unpaid social-care givers’ and ‘unpaid child-care givers’ respectively.