Older women locked out of jobs market by caring responsibilities

Many older women are unable to work traditional hours, as they are busy caring for ageing parents, children and grandchildren.

As a result, they are either shunted into low paid jobs or locked out of the jobs market altogether.

New figures show the proportion of older women working flexibly has fallen over the last two years and coincides with a marked increase in the number of older women who have been unemployed for more than a year, according to an analysis of official labour market figures by two leading charities, Age UK and Carers UK.

The total number of people working has grown steadily over this period, but the fall in the number of older women in jobs indicates many want to work but can’t find suitable employment.

Caroline Abrahams, charity director of Age UK said: “We know that many older women especially are finding it impossible to hold down a full time job at the same time as fulfilling their caring responsibilities. In the end, many have to stop employment altogether or take a poorly paid part-time job, where their skills are often wasted and their income plummets.”

The two charities are calling for ‘Flexible by Default’ so that everyone can work flexibly unless their employer can justify otherwise in a drive “to harness the wasted potential of many older women - and indeed older men”.

Heléna Herklots, chief executive of Carers UK, added: “One in four women in their 50s and 60s have caring responsibilities, many struggling to combine paid work with supporting ageing parents or an ill partner.

“Unless carers can access flexibility at work and reliable care services at home they are at risk of being forced to give up work entirely, with serious costs not just to their family finances but also to their employer and the economy.”

Age UK’s analysis of the Labour Force Survey found that in 2012, 36.8 per cent of women worked flexibly, down from 38.3 per cent in 2010.

Long-term unemployment among women aged 50-64 in the same period rose from 34.5 per cent to 40.7 per cent – an increase of nearly a fifth.

A recent TUC report found that almost half of women over 50 are in part-time work with average wages of less than £10,000. The report argued that many of these women could only take part-time jobs because of caring responsibilities which trapped them in low wage jobs.

The Government has committed to extending the right to request flexible working to all employees in June 2014. The charities welcome this as an important first step, but believe that we should go further to encourage employers to promote and encourage flexibility in the workplace.

Flexible working can include a range of options, including working from home, doing flexitime or compressing hours, all of which can allow people to balance personal responsibilities with work. Currently, only parents with children under the age of 16 and those with caring responsibilities can request flexible working.