Carer advocacy

Emma
carer advocacy

Carer advocacy that’s changing the perception of carers and caring

I (Maud) love carer advocacy, working with health and age tech, care providers, local authorities, primary healthcare providers and charities. I also help enterprises develop new products and services that:

  1. engage the over 50’s in diverse workforces
  2. prepare people for, enable and sustain wellbeing in later life
  3. help older people find purpose by investing their skills and wisdom post ‘retirement’
  4. support those who care for older family members
  5. ensure older people have self-determined support, when they need it
  6. remove the stigma attached to being old or being a carer
  7. give the army of unpaid carers a voice and support

My carer advocacy journey

2022

I’ve been appointed trustee at Carers Bucks (I want to ‘pay forward’ the support they’ve given me).

carer advocacy

I contributed to ‘How to survive the never-ending sandwich years’ article in the Sunday Telegraph, 20 February. Jenny Tucker revealed how more people are caring for elderly relatives while still raising their children – and they are reaching breaking point.

Carer advocacy 2020-21

I spent these two years, like many, working hard (unable to furlough) to maintain income and doubling down on care responsibilities. Not much time for blogs posts, but I kept carers updated with the important stuff on a ‘carers versus covid’ page (now relegated to a post). Early on I was sharing how to make hand sanitiser and masks.

who cares wins

2019

Click on the image on the left for carer advocacy in the ‘who cares wins’ podcast, S2 Ep1 6 November. I also spoke or ‘panelled’ at Carers UK conferences and contributed to awareness-raising pieces for carers on Radio 4 and Radio 5 and articles in national newspapers (Telegraph, Mirror, Express), online (Huff Post) magazines (Closer, Woman’s Own and My Weekly). 

carers uk

I also volunteered at Carers UK to help influence policymakers, here with CEO Helen Walker and Caroline Dineage MP, Minister of State for Social Care 2019.

The data that energises me

National data

National data on working carers (Carers UK)

  • Census data shows that nearly 3 million carers aged 16 and over in the UK are in paid employment. Over 1 million working-age carers are not in paid employment.
  • Carers UK research found that 2.6 million people have given up work to care – that’s 600 people a day.
  • People providing unpaid care are more likely than those without caring responsibilities to be working part time. The Census 2021 in England and Wales found that 38% of carers in employment are working part time compared with 29% of non-carers in employment.
  • The Carers UK State of Caring 2025 survey found that 69% of carers who are employees said they haven’t focused on their career as much as they’d like, and 61% said caring has affected the type of employment they’ve taken on. A fifth (21%) said they had taken on a lower paid or more junior role that fitted better with their caring responsibilities.

Bucks data

All from Carers Bucks, 2025 unless otherwise stated.

  • There are an estimated 55,000 carers in Bucks (2021 census). 1 in 4 Bucks residents are likely to be a carer at some point in their life.
  • Should just 18 carers decide they can’t cope anymore and help their relative or friend into a residential home, the bill shared by the local authority and the family is typically £0.5m per year. (Carers Bucks 2019)
  • Here is the Carers Bucks ‘We Care Annual Survey 2025‘
carer advocacy