Working parents and carers in the UK are under mounting pressure from rising care demands, economic strain and workplace cultures that are struggling to keep pace with family realities, according to new research from Bright Horizons Work + Family Solutions.

The latest Modern Families Index, based on a survey of 3,000 working parents and carers, suggests that care-related stress is no longer a marginal or private issue, but one with growing implications for workforce stability, retention and performance.

More than two in five “sandwich carers” — those juggling childcare alongside caring for ageing relatives — said they were actively reconsidering their job because of care pressures. One in five employees reported using sick leave over the past year to deal with care emergencies, highlighting the extent to which informal workarounds are being used to manage unpredictable breakdowns in care.

Stress levels are rising sharply. Almost a third of working parents described their stress as “very high”, with more than three-quarters of those affected saying it sometimes made it hard to function at work. Despite years of focus on flexible and hybrid working, the report suggests that flexibility alone is failing to address the problem. Employees working largely from home reported stress levels similar to those spending at least one day a week on site, indicating that unpredictability, rather than location, is driving strain.

The burden continues to fall disproportionately on women. Mothers were 50 per cent more likely than men to say having children had harmed their career prospects. Among parents who also care for older relatives, nearly half of mothers reported a negative career impact, compared with just over a third of fathers.

Confidence in employer support has stalled. Only 63 per cent of respondents said they felt comfortable discussing family responsibilities at work, a figure that falls further among those expecting a child.

Chris Locke, executive director of work and family solutions at Bright Horizons, said the findings should act as a warning to employers. “Care pressure is becoming a structural challenge, not a personal one,” he said. “When people repeatedly rely on sick leave or reduced hours to cope, the cost to organisations quickly adds up.”

He added that companies best placed to navigate the year ahead would be those that treat care support as a core element of workforce resilience, investing in practical solutions that work in real time when care arrangements fall through.