Employers for Carers (EfC) hosted a virtual Members Event on Tuesday 4 July which followed on from Carers Week’s theme ‘Recognising and supporting carers in the community’. The event was opened by Carers UK’s Chair, Nick Baird, who gave a brief update on new EfC members and Carer Confident employers.   

Helen Walker, Chief Executive of Carers UK, then provided a short overview of recent developments at the charity including highlights from Carers Week and our most recent research which you can read here. Helen also touched on the recent news about the Carer’s Leave Act. 

Four of our EfC members provided updates about what they did in Carers Week and how they have been recognising and supporting carers in their workplace communities. We had speakers from Santander, Competition Markets Authority, CBRE and KPMG and it was very interesting to hear the different approaches to their support for carers in the workplace. Our speakers also contributed to a lively and informative discussion around Carer Passports and Carer’s Leave in response to questions from other members.  

We then welcomed Emily Holzhausen OBE, Director of Policy and Public Affairs at Carers UK, to speak about the Carer’s Leave Act in light of the recent Royal Assent to the Bill. Emily’s presentation included information about the Act itself, what will be coming next and what Carers UK will be doing to support employers. Her presentation concluded with a short Q&A session.  

Nick Baird wrapped up the event by thanking all participants for their contributions to the discussion and highlighting that the next EfC Members Networking event will be on 31 October.