The headline figure
Carers UK’s most cited estimate is that carer-related leaving and absence costs UK employers in the region of £3 billion per year, with replacement costs the largest single component Carers UK. That figure aggregates lost productivity from absence, the cost of replacing carers who leave, and the productivity hit from presenteeism.
How it breaks down
Three components, in rough order of size:
1. Carer attrition. Carers UK estimates 600 carers leave the UK workforce every working day. Oxford Economics put the cost of replacing a mid-level UK employee at around £30,000–£40,000 per role (2014 figures, inflation-adjusted). For senior or managerial roles, replacement cost runs at 100–200% of annual salary.
2. Presenteeism. The CIPD’s annual Health and Wellbeing at Work survey consistently puts presenteeism cost at 2–3 times the cost of absence. For a carer managing CAMHS calls, EHCP appeals and school crises while at their desk, the productivity loss is large and largely invisible.
3. Direct absence. Carer absence shows up partly as named leave (sick leave, dependants’ leave, carer’s leave under the 2023 Act) and partly as annual-leave consumption. The CIPD reports that working carers take an average of 4–7 additional days off per year vs non-carers.
A worked example for a 1,000-person organisation
At a UK-average salary of £55,000, with roughly 1 in 7 employees a carer of some kind, and 5–8% of carer employees leaving each year specifically because of care: ~9 attributable leavers per year, at ~£55,000 replacement cost per role = ~£500,000 per year in attrition alone. Adding presenteeism brings the realistic annual cost to £800,000–£1.2 million for a 1,000-person organisation.
What reduces it
Three interventions consistently lower the cost: a paid carer’s leave policy (signals seriousness), manager training on carer-friendly conversations (changes behaviour at the friction point), and practical advisory support (gives carers tools that reduce the load directly). All three pay back several times over for an organisation of this size.
Where the law comes from
Related
This page is general information, not clinical or legal advice.