Recognising the cost of unpaid care

Whether it's looking after children, elderly family members or your neighbour, we know that many of you are actively providing unpaid care.

This unpaid care may be in addition to your paid job. Or perhaps your caregiving responsibilities have meant you've needed to reduce your hours at work – which may also be impacting your finances and even how much money you'll have at retirement.

At HESTA, we believe in using our collective voice to help address inequities impacting our members and those we see falling behind. That is why we partnered with the McKell Institute to conduct research to better understand how unpaid responsibilities are affecting HESTA members.

The impact of unpaid care on our members

According to our survey of HESTA members*, an average of 28 hours a week is spent providing unpaid care. That's the equivalent of 3.5 average working days.

The data also shows this unpaid care is more likely to be undertaken by women, with 88 percent of caregiver respondents being female.

A further 66 percent of respondents under 50 not in full-time employment said they would work more paid hours if they didn't have unpaid caring duties – which in turn would boost their income and superannuation.

The most trying aspect of providing unpaid care, noted by 92 percent of respondents, was the impact on their mental health of juggling unpaid care with paid care. Many respondents, 51 percent, reported they do not share the responsibility of their caring duties with anyone. This means many carry the burden of unpaid care – and the personal or financial consequences of that care – alone.

Measuring unpaid care

It is clear from our research that many of you who are working while providing unpaid care, may be facing significant financial strain and noticing an impact on your mental health, family, and community wellbeing.

That is why we recognise the importance of measuring unpaid care, and we welcome the Federal Government's decision to increase the frequency of time-use surveys to capture national data on unpaid care work.

Because formally measuring the role of unpaid care work in Australia can help to recognise its impact on our members' financial wellbeing, economic contribution, and help improve equity in retirement savings.

More on this topic, and the McKell Institute's recommendations, can be found in the 'Our place in time: Making unpaid work count' report.

If this resonates with you, HESTA is proud to partner with Infoxchange, the not-for-profit behind 'Ask Izzy': a service that helps Australians find and access local support services. You can search for over 430,000 services close to you, including financial assistance and mental health counselling.

*Research studies conducted among a representative sample of HESTA members from November 2022 to September 2023. Find out more.

HESTA is APHA's Diamond Sponsor.

Issued by H.E.S.T. Australia Ltd ABN 66 006 818 695 AFSL 235249, the Trustee of HESTA ABN 64 971 749 321. This information is of a general nature. It does not take into account your objectives, financial situation or specific needs so you should look at your own financial position and requirements before making a decision. You may wish to consult an adviser when doing this. The target market determination for HESTA products can be found at hesta.com.au/TMD. Before making a decision about HESTA products you should read the relevant Product Disclosure Statement (call 1800 813 327 or visit hesta.com.au/pds for a copy), and consider any relevant risks (visit hesta.com.au/understandingrisk).

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