Developing an industry that is equipped to support unpaid carers in employment: from recruitment to retention
3 in 5 people have an unpaid caring role during their lives: this issue is impacting on your employees now. More than 600 people quit work to look after elderly or disabled relative every day.
The amount of unpaid care provided in the UK is increasing, almost 5 million workers are now juggling their paid job with caring – a dramatic rise compared with Census 2011 figures of 3 million. The water sector is critical to the UK’s future - employing over ***** staff, we need to ensure that the sector is equipped to provide appropriate, consistent support to unpaid carers of all ages. Young Carers and Young Adult Carers report challenges entering the sector due to challenges faced through caring (on average young carers achieve 9 grades lower at GCSE level in comparison to their non-caring peers) yet the transferable skills they have learnt through caring can bring immense value to the sector: staying calm in a crisis, juggling a range of tasks.
Despite new legislation entitling carers to 1 week of Carer’s Leave per year recognition of carers in the water industry remains stubbornly low, particularly in technical, engineering, and operational roles. Discussions with carers highlight that a lack of clear structure, understanding and inconsistencies often prevent caring situations being disclosed until crisis point - resulting in increased sickness absence.
Now is the time to act boldly. We need to co-design a sector that unpaid carers want to join, grow in, and lead - not just survive in.
The dash will bring together unpaid carers, allies, leaders, and industry voices to reimagine how the water sector attracts, supports, and retains unpaid carers throughout their careers.
In just one day, we’ll:
- Dive into the data - what’s really happening nationally, locally and within the utility sectors
- Explore the lived experience of unpaid carers
- Identify key challenges in recruitment, progression, culture, and retention
- Uncover what’s working well - and how to amplify it
- Share and learn best practices from across the sector and beyond
- Produce a set of practical, ready-to-test ideas for driving change
We’ll co-create targeted interventions, messaging strategies, and leadership actions that can regenerate our approach to diversity and inclusion—not as a tick-box, but as a driver of culture, performance, and long-term innovation.
Participants will move through a focused series of insight-driven and collaborative design sessions to tackle the challenge head-on.
Across the day, we will:
- Review insights from Newcastle Carers, a charity leading the way in unpaid carer support, to understand the challenges unpaid carers face in detail.
- Map key career moments where support breaks down - entry, mid-career transitions, leadership progression, and points of exit
- Create “day-in-the-life” stories and career journey examples that surface barriers, enablers, and emotional moments that matter
- Design rapid-fire ideas - including campaigns, policies, leadership behaviours, and practical nudges to boost retention and representation
- Co-develop leadership recommendations and a communications toolkit based on best practices from the utility sector to embed change from the shop floor to senior roles
The Dash will be energised by real stories, data-led discussion, and fast-paced collaboration - delivering ideas ready to test and share.
This one-day Dash will culminate in a set of tangible, high-impact outputs, ready to share and build on.
By the end of the session, we will have:
- A shared understanding of the key reasons unpaid carers are not entering/leaving the water sector - and the biggest opportunities to intervene
- A draft set of retention and support ideas, linked to key career stages (entry, mid-career, progression)
- Core messaging themes and engagement ideas to help improve identification of unpaid carers in the industry and connect them with support
- Early-stage recommendations for policy, leadership action, and inclusive culture-building
- A first outline of how we might track and measure progress - setting a foundation for long-term change
These outputs will be captured, refined, and ready to take into internal conversations, leadership reviews, or future development sessions.
- Unpaid Carers will gain more visible, supported, and achievable career pathways—designed for long-term growth and success.
- Human Resources, managers and team leaders will be better equipped to support and champion inclusive development
- Recruiters and employer brand teams will gain messaging that resonates with future talent
- Industry leaders will benefit from better retention, deeper innovation, and stronger team performance
- The sector as a whole will take a step toward greater equity, diversity, and resilience—rooted in real change, not just representation