It's Time to Care for the Family Carers

Social enterprise Jobs for Family Carers is focused on ensuring those who provide an invaluable service to society can work and earn too.

Fiona O’Neill’s Jobs for Family Carers is out to fix the problem of family carers’ under-representation within the workforce.

“A family carer is an individual who cares for a member of their family due to an illness, disability or the inability to complete some everyday tasks on their own. 80,000 out of the 390,000 family carers in this country are in receipt of a social protection payment known as Carers Allowance. A condition of this allowance means you cannot work more than 18.5 hours per week. I believe many employers are unaware of the demand for contracts of this size.”

O’Neill makes a valid point. Ireland’s health and social care system depends on family carers. But despite their valuable contribution to our society, she says the health of family carers has decreased in the last ten years resulting in 48pc of family carers reporting poor mental health and managing the anxiety of falling into a poverty trap .

“Employment has been proven to increase self-esteem and reduce psychological distress.

“I want to reach out to employers to advocate that they consider contracts of 18.5 hours to allow family carers to secure employment, empower Family Carers to recognise their skills and support them on their journey into the workforce.”

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