October 28 2025
October 29th marks the International Day for Care and Support which is a global day to raise awareness and advocate for action to improve care work which covers a wide range including childcare, elder care, public health and social services. The goal is to push for well-funded public care systems, decent wages and good working conditions for care workers. It also works to recognize and reduce the amount of unpaid care which disproportionately falls on women. Globally women perform over 76% of the total amount of unpaid care work which is 3.2 more times than men. The National Union’s Advisory Committee on Women’s Issues has been highlighting for years the impacts of unpaid care on women including issues of balancing work and care giving, stress and economic impacts.
The need for care is growing globally with issues such as the demand for childcare and elder care rising. The International Labour Organization (ILO) predicts that by 2030 the number of people requiring care will reach 2.3 billion globally.
The ILO Resolution on Decent Work and the Care Economy (passed in June 2024) reaffirms the necessity for urgent action to ensure decent work in the care economy. The ILO is marking this year’s International Day for Care and Support by stressing that it is a human right to have access to care as well as the need for those providing care to have decent wages and working conditions.
The National Union continues to raise awareness of the need to have well-funded public services and for its workers in the care sector to receive appropriate wages, benefits and high standard working conditions. It does this with the knowledge that although not all its 450,000 members work in the care sector, the majority of its membership is accessing care in some form or will require it in the foreseeable future.