Minding the Gap

On Thursday 12 June 2025 IP Ability and Women in IP hosted a webinar, Juggling caring and working in the IP profession, looking at the mental health implications of having caring responsibilities and highlighting the unique challenges faced by carers in the legal profession. Our speakers were Niamh Warnock, Engagement and Relationship Manager at LawCare, and Karen Genuardi, Head of People and Talent at Lee and Thompson, and the discussion was chaired by Chris Clarke, co-lead of IP Ability. You can watch the webinar here, or read a summary below. After the presentation attendees went into breakout rooms to chat about their own experiences of juggling work and caring.

Mind the Caring Gap

LawCare is a charity that supports and promotes good mental health in the legal sector. They offer three main ways to get support: a help line, an online chat, and support by email (see below). In June 2024 RPC, Next 100 Years and LawCare published a report called Mind the Caring Gap. It detailed the carers’ audit which was undertaken earlier that year, and it aimed to highlight and address the unique challenges that are faced by carers in the legal profession.

Here are some of the key figures in that report:

89% of carers who responded to the survey identified as women
77% of those who responded reported that their caring role had an impact on their mental health
70% of those who responded reported that their caring role had an impact on their physical health
73% of respondents have had to take annual leave to provide care to others
57% of respondents believe that their caring role has negatively impacted their career progression

The burden of caring falls disproportionately on women, and caring takes a physical and mental toll. For many it is impossible to leave the impact of that toll at the door when they go to work, but rather personal responsibilities can continue to have an impact in the professional environment. Furthermore, these are long term challenges, forming barriers to career progression, and employer support can be lacking. The pressure faced by people juggling work and caring is leading to rising numbers of carers leaving the legal profession. Improving the support available for carers could improve employee wellbeing, retention and loyalty.

It is likely that many of us will have caring responsibilities at some point, but the balancing of those responsibilities with the pressures of work can be tricky. Karen outlined three categories of support employers could offer:

Leadership and management: Creating the right environment

It is important to normalise the dialogue around caring, so people can talk openly about matters affecting them. Managers should lead by example, perhaps by marking in their calendar that they are attending a school play or taking a relative to a doctor’s appointment. Creating and supporting internal carer networks helps to make an inclusive environment and can offer peer to peer support. It is also important for line managers to keep an eye on their employees, watching for them struggling so that they can intervene with support before burnout is reached. General training raises awareness that caring responsibilities come in all shapes and sizes and can change over time and can help to tackle unconscious biases that may present career barriers.

Flexibility: For emergencies and longer-term responsibilities

Allowing flexibility will help people to be their best at work. That flexibility might be temporary or longer term and will vary according to situation. Using annual leave to cover caring responsibilities, as 48% of respondents to the survey reported doing, is not sustainable as it doesn’t allow sufficient time to rest and recover and may lead to stress and burnout. Clear communication is key to reducing stress for employer and employee about what is needed, what is possible and how work will be covered in their absence. Flexibility may include temporary changes to working arrangements, changes to when work is done, an extension to deadlines, or reallocation of work. With any changes, it is important to keep things under review and adapt as needed.

Information: Making sure policies are up to date and easily accessible

It is important to keep policies up to date, accessible and visible, as well as signposting resources such as an Employee Assistance Programme, LawCare, and Carers UK. HR teams are a valuable source of support, as are external organisations (ACAS, CIPD) who may be able to provide free guidance or template policies. Some useful websites are listed below.

www.acas.org.uk/carers-leave

www.carersuk.org

http://www.cipd.org.uk/knowledge/reports/supporting-working-carers

www.nct.org.uk/information/life-parent/support-change/returning-work-after-maternity-leave