The financial cost of caring for ageing parents, and how to protect your own future

What caring for a parent actually costs you

The most immediate cost is income, not time. According to the Carers Week 2024 report (YouGov Omnibus, April 2024), 47% of unpaid carers say caring has had a negative financial impact on their household, and among those who gave up work entirely to care, 49% saw their income fall by more than £1,000 a month.

This is not a small group. Carers UK estimates that around 600 people a day leave paid work in the UK to take on caring responsibilities, and more than 2.6 million have given up work to care at some point. Research by WPI Economics for Carers UK found that 1.2 million unpaid carers are living in poverty, including 400,000 in deep poverty, with being out of paid work the single strongest predictor of poverty among carers. Half of carers in the charity's 2025 State of Caring survey had cut back on essentials such as food and heating.

Why this falls disproportionately on women

Census 2021 figures show that 59% of unpaid carers in England and Wales are women, and the effect on paid work follows a similar pattern. Carers UK's own research found that 38% of carers in employment work part time, against 29% of people without caring responsibilities, and that 21% had accepted a lower paid or more junior role specifically to fit around caring.

None of this shows up as a single dramatic decision on a payslip. It shows up as declined promotions, part time hours that never quite return to full time, and pension contributions that shrink alongside take home pay.

The pension gap caregiving quietly creates

Every qualifying year you miss on your National Insurance record costs you a fixed, calculable amount of state pension for the rest of your life. The full new State Pension for 2026/27 is £241.30 a week, built up over 35 qualifying years, which means each individual year is worth roughly £6.90 a week, or around £360 a year, added permanently to your pension in retirement.

Miss three qualifying years while you reduce your hours to care, with nothing in place to cover the gap, and you are looking at over £1,000 a year less in retirement, for as long as you live. Over a twenty year retirement that is more than £20,000 gone, quietly. Most guidance on caring for parents leaves this maths out entirely, because it focuses on paying for a parent's care rather than protecting the carer's own pension while she provides it.

What financial support exists, and how to actually claim it

Two separate schemes matter here, and they are easy to confuse. Carer's Allowance is a taxable benefit worth £86.45 a week in 2026/27, available if you provide at least 35 hours of care a week for someone receiving a qualifying disability benefit, and if your own earnings after deductions stay under £204 a week. It credits you with Class 1 National Insurance automatically.

If you provide at least 20 hours of care a week, whether or not you claim Carer's Allowance, you may instead qualify for Carer's Credit, which adds Class 3 National Insurance credits to protect your state pension record. Unlike Carer's Allowance, it is not automatic. You have to apply for it yourself, and claims can only be backdated by one tax year, so a gap you do not notice at the time can become permanent.

From Lucy, co-founder of Welleness

My mum has always been fiercely independent, so when she needed more support a few years ago, I found myself doing the maths on my own life without really admitting that was what I was doing. I cut a day from my working week almost without noticing, and it took me an embarrassingly long time to realise that day was still costing me, long after it had stopped feeling like a decision.

What strikes me most about this topic is how quietly it happens. Nobody sits you down and asks whether you are willing to trade part of your pension for your mother's Tuesdays. It just accumulates, in small, reasonable choices that feel like the only option at the time, because they usually are.

If you are in the middle of this now, the kindest thing I can tell you is that checking what you are entitled to is not a betrayal of the person you are caring for. It is simply making sure that caring for one generation does not quietly cost you your own.

What you can do now

Check your state pension forecast at gov.uk/check-state-pension before you reduce your hours, so you know exactly how many qualifying years you already have and how many you can afford to miss.

If you provide 20 hours or more of care a week, apply for Carer's Credit directly through gov.uk, even if you already claim Carer's Allowance, since it is not applied automatically and backdating is limited to one tax year.

Ask your employer in writing about flexible working and any unpaid carer's leave entitlement before assuming that reducing your hours or leaving altogether is the only way to make caring work.

FAQ

Can I get paid for caring for a parent in the UK?
Not directly for the care itself, but if you provide at least 35 hours of care a week for a parent who receives a qualifying disability benefit, you may be entitled to Carer's Allowance, currently £86.45 a week.

Do I have to give up work completely to claim Carer's Allowance?
No. You can still work and claim, as long as your earnings after allowable deductions stay under the current limit of £204 a week.

What happens to my pension if I reduce my hours to care for a parent?
Reduced earnings usually mean reduced workplace pension contributions, and if your hours fall low enough you may stop building a qualifying National Insurance year, which is where Carer's Credit becomes important.

Can more than one sibling claim for caring for the same parent?
Carer's Allowance can only be paid to one person for the same period of care, so if caring is shared, it is worth agreeing between you who claims, and when.

Here is what one Welleness member said after completing her financial health check.

"Speaking to Elle is like an icebreaker, there's nothing to lose by speaking to her candidly. She responds like an IFA would. It's almost like a practice run. And she's not saying I'm stupid, she's saying it's really good that you're looking into these things. It would make you feel more comfortable and more confident about speaking to an IFA." Amelia, Welleness user

If reading this has made you wonder what caring for a parent is quietly costing your own finances, our free financial health check takes less than five minutes and gives you a clear picture across six areas of your financial life. No judgement. No jargon. Just clarity.

This post is for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial advice. For guidance specific to your situation, speak to a regulated financial adviser.