University of Sheffield research from the Centre for Care, previous Sheffield-led ESRC investment ‘Sustainable Care’ and across the Faculty has highlighted that greater support is needed for employees with caring responsibilities.
A carer is a person of any age who provides unpaid care and support to a family member, friend or neighbour who is disabled, has an illness or long-term condition, or who needs extra help as they grow older.
The population providing care is dynamic. University of Sheffield research has calculated that 12,000 people in the UK become carers every day, of whom 5,300 are in employment (Petrillo et al., 2022). Between 2010 and 2020, more than 1.9 million people in paid employment became unpaid carers every year (Petrillo and Bennett, 2022), with many leaving employment earlier than the general population. The support unpaid carers need to remain in employment includes providing access to leave, flexible working and creating supportive work environments (Austin and Heyes, 2021).
South Yorkshire Cares about Carers
The Centre for Care has developed a training package alongside Sandwich Generation Support to improve South Yorkshire employers’ understanding of the challenges faced by employees with caring responsibilities. The training package was underpinned by University of Sheffield, Centre for Care research, which was offered free of charge to employers across South Yorkshire. This is a small ‘proof on concept’ project delivering a total of three sessions of employee training.
It’s been fantastic working with the University of Sheffield to bring lived experience, research and practical learning together through manager training focused on supporting working carers across South Yorkshire. What’s been most rewarding is seeing the difference it has made — managers leaving with greater confidence, practical tools and, importantly, a real commitment to doing things differently.
For me, it’s about so much more than delivering training; it’s about what happens afterwards and what actually changes for working carers. I’m really excited to be continuing the partnership through a new peer network, where managers can share what’s working, learn from each other and turn that learning into lasting change.
Sherry King – Director, Sandwich Generation Support
Resources
A practical reference guide for managers to takeaway, available to download below. Please note the printable version of the reference guide is not tagged for accessibility, but the digital version is.
Click here to download practical reference guide for managers (printable PDF)
Click here to download practical reference guide for managers (digital tagged PDF)
The training has supported employers to:
- Improve their understanding of the emotional and practical impact of balancing work and caring.
- Identify clear, practical steps to support carers in their teams and the wider organisation.
- Create a supportive and understanding workplace culture.
- Promote workplace support for working carers including carer passports, supportive management and carers networks.
- Have confidence in applying policies and using workplace flexibility.
The training would be suitable for CEO’s, line managers, team leaders, EDI leads and representatives, HR professionals.
This will have multiple benefits for employers, for example; improved recruitment and retention, reduced absenteeism, lower training costs, and increased staff morale and productivity. Employees will benefit from reduced stress, improved well-being, and increased job satisfaction.
The offer
We invited employers in South Yorkshire to take part in this pilot project. Participants accessed training in regards to employment policies and carers employment rights whilst also understanding what action they can take to support carers in their workforce. Attendees were invited to attend a training session with up to 15 participants.
Carer ambassadors:
As a result of the training, participants may be interested in championing change in their workplace as ‘carer ambassadors’, we intend to remain in contact with the participants to assist them with subsequent steps and discussions to ensure the training is useful and has an impact. The University of Sheffield will facilitate an optional peer support group for participants to continue to share their progress in the workplace and discuss learning experiences as ‘carer ambassadors’.
Evaluation toolkit:
We will endeavour to create an evaluation toolkit for employers to measure the benefit of carer friendly policies and practices. This will support them to measure improvements in staff sickness and staff wellbeing. It will enable employers to highlight the benefit of working for their organisation and position South Yorkshire as a region with top quality employers.
Timeline:
| May- June 2026 | Advertise training and invite registrations |
| June 2026 | Liaison with training participants |
| 1st July 2026 9am to 12pm | Employer training session |
| 6th July 2026 9am to 12pm | Employer training session |
| 15th July 2026 9am to 12pm | Employer training session |
| July to September 2026 | Develop evaluation toolkit alongside employers |
| October 2026 | Review progress with participants who attended training sessions |
| January 2027 | Review progress with participants who attended training sessions |
The Centre for Care would like to work alongside Sandwich Generation Support to ensure that the impact and benefit of the training is captured at every opportunity. We would like to incorporate carer champions into the training to enable participants to continue to share their learning and enable change to happen in their workplace.
The Centre for Care will offer an evaluation toolkit which will support employers to measure the impact on their business. For example: tracking staff absence, sickness etc. In addition guidance and support will be offered in relation to staff surveys whilst also measuring outcomes of the training intervention.
Or for further information please contact Fay Benskin at the Centre for Care: f.e.benskin@sheffield.ac.uk