Carmichael, Fiona

Background: 'Choice' is increasingly pursued as a goal of social policy. However, the degree to which choice is exercised when entering an informal caring role is open to debate.; Aim: In this study, we examined the degree of choice and constraint in entering a caring role, and the relationship between choice and carers' well-being.; Methods: Data were derived from 1100 responses to a postal survey conducted in a British city.

In the United Kingdom, informal carers look after relatives or friends who need extra support because of age, physical or learning disability, or illness. The burden of informal care work falls on women, who often care for longer hours and durations than men. This paper considers the impact that caring responsibilities have on women's employment. The research is based on a dedicated questionnaire and in-depth interviews with informal caregivers.

This paper reports on interviews with 30 carers of working age in north-west England. Respondents revealed a general dissatisfaction with government initiatives and policy. The findings suggest that in the main either the policy, or its implementation at grassroots level, or both have little impact. 

We investigate the extent to which people's earlier circumstances and experiences shape subsequent life-courses. We do this using UK longitudinal data to provide a dynamic analysis of employment and caregiving histories for 4339 people over 15–20 years between 1991 and 2010. We analyse these histories as sequences using optimal matching and cluster analysis to identify five distinct employment-caregiving pathways. Regression analysis shows that prior to embarking on these pathways, people are already differentiated by life-stage, gender and attitudes towards family and gender roles.

In this paper, we investigate the costs borne by both male and female carers in terms of their forgone formal employment opportunities. Traditionally, informal care was supplied by women but nowadays women are not only more likely to work, but also likely to be significant contributors to family finances. For women, this implies that the size of any forgone earnings cost of informal care is increasing. At the same time, population ageing is making for increasing numbers requiring care.