This is an open letter to acknowledge the essential and increasingly challenging role unpaid family carers are playing in the COVID-19 pandemic. The letter is written by members of the CAREWELL team, a HRB-funded project that aims to promote health and self-care behaviours among working family carers. Family carers provide care to family and friends in the community who need support due to old-age, disability and chronic illness. In many cases, family carers are supporting those who are considered most at risk in this pandemic meaning carers must reduce their own risk of infection in order to protect their dependent family members. The temporary reduction of some home care services, as well as school and creche closures, means that family carers are providing increased levels of care with little or no support. At a time when both worlds of work and care have been dramatically transformed, we wish to shed light on those who are currently balancing paid employment with a family caregiving role. We argue that there is much to be learned from the recent work restrictions that could benefit employees, including working family carers, beyond this pandemic. We also wish to build on the potential positives of a transformed society and encourage policy makers and employers to focus on what is currently being implemented, and to identify which measures could be used to create a bedrock of policies and practices that would offer robust and effective support to family carers. It is hoped that family carers will receive greater recognition for the significant role they play in society, providing essential care and alleviating the strain on health and social care systems, both during and post the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic public health and social protective measures imposed globally resulted in partial or full closure of key services and supports for services and supports for people with a disability, chronic illness or age-related dependency. This caused huge disruption to care provision and family carers were relied upon to assume this care at home. Many family carers, including those in employment, found themselves navigating additional care responsibilities without 'usual levels' of support from family, friends, work, school, day care services, homecare and community services. The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on family carers, their employment and care-giving responsibilities, through the lens of the Conservation of Resources (COR) theory (Hobfoll, 1989). Adopting a qualitative research approach, 16 family carers (14 females, 2 males) who were in employment prior to the onset of or during the pandemic, participated in an in-depth, semi-structured telephone or online video interview between June and September 2020. Interviews lasted between 45 and 100 min, were audio-recorded and transcribed verbatim. A thematic analysis of the interview data identified four main themes: colliding worlds; navigating unchartered waters alone; opportunity despite adversity and the relentless unknowing. Findings indicate that the onset of the pandemic resulted in the sudden loss of valued resources, which disrupted routines and caused care and work life domains to become intrinsically intertwined. Consistent with the main principles of the COR theory, adapting and transitioning to different ways of working and caring with depleted resources and supports, generated considerable stress for family carers and impacted their wellbeing. The implications for employers, healthcare providers, policy makers and other key stakeholders are considered, to enable family carers to successfully reconcile work with care and protect their well-being, as the pandemic continues to unfold and in the event of future societal crises.

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Background: Young carers are young people who care for a relative or a friend with an illness, disability, frailty, a mental health issue or addiction. Across the world, it is challenging to calculate the exact numbers due to the invisible nature of their role that can exist due to stigmatisation and fear of authoritative intrusion. As young carers reach 16 years and over, future career prospects become more significant. Young carers are more likely than their peers not to be in education, employment, or training and are more likely to do poorly at school or college than their non-caregiving peers due to the demands of caring. Recognising that positive engagement at school is a vital correlate of positive employment outcomes, young carers are at risk as their caring role can limit the range of employment opportunities open to them. This paper outlines the protocol for a robust synthesis of the literature surrounding young carers and their career perceptions. The scoping review will address the research question ‘What is known from the literature about young carers in school and their career perceptions?’ The overall aim of this paper is to present a protocol for the scoping review to map the key concepts, types of evidence, and gaps in research related to young carers in school and their future careers. Methods: The review will follow Arksey and O’Malley (2005) and Levac et al.’s, (2010) scoping review framework. The steps involved include: (1) research question identification; (2) relevant studies identification; (3) selection of studies; (4) data charting; (5) collating, summarising and reporting the results; and (6) stakeholders' consultation. Conclusions: The scoping review is an appropriate first step to employ in presenting the literature to inform a larger research study on young carers’ experiences in school and their perceptions regarding their future careers.

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