International Day of Care and Support 2026

2026 theme

The 2026 theme is “Building sustainable care and support systems through decent work”, focusing on labour rights, wages, social protection and the meaningful representation of care workers. It follows the 2025 theme, “Care and Support for All: Realising human rights of all those providing and requiring care and support.”

How to get involved

• Download the Global Alliance for Care advocacy toolkit, which includes ready-made social media content, videos and shareable graphics.
• Use the hashtags #InternationalDayofCareAndSupport and #InvestInCare to share your support.
• Write to your MP or local councillor about social care funding, using Carers UK policy materials.
• If you provide unpaid care, register with your GP as a carer to access additional support, and check your entitlement to Carer’s Allowance via GOV.UK.
• Employers can use the day to review flexible-working policies and ensure managers know how to support staff with caring responsibilities.

Why this day matters

Care work underpins every society, yet most of it is either unpaid or poorly paid. Globally, women perform 76.2% of all unpaid care work, 3.2 times more than men, and 708 million women are outside the paid labour force specifically because of caring responsibilities, according to a 2024 ILO statistical brief. Valued at minimum wage, that unpaid care work would represent 9% of global GDP.

In the UK, the 2021 Census recorded 5.8 million unpaid carers, with women making up 59% of that group. Research by the Centre for Care puts the annual value of unpaid care in Britain at £184 billion, a 29% rise since 2011. Around 1.2 million carers are in poverty, and Carers UK estimates that roughly 1,500 people a day left employment to care in the two years to 2026.

How UK organisations mark the day

Carers UK has used the occasion to call on government to raise social care investment and expand financial support for unpaid carers. Helen Walker, Carers UK Chief Executive, described the day as “critically important for families who can be pushed into poverty and whose health and wellbeing are damaged.”

The TUC is working on paid care reform: in July 2026 the UK government formally accepted the TUC’s model for trade-union representation in an Adult Social Care Fair Pay Agreement for England, with negotiations expected to begin in April 2027, supported by £500 million in government funding.

Carers Worldwide, a UK-registered charity (No. 1150214), marks the day with events across South Asia, including rallies, human chains and submissions to local government. In 2025, Karnataka state in India issued an order recognising the day across all 31 of its districts.

The ILO holds a commemoration event in Geneva on 29 October 2026, bringing together governments, employer organisations, worker organisations and UN partners to review progress on sustainable care systems.

Related awareness days

Those marking this day in the UK may also want to note National Family Caregivers Month in November, Carers Rights Day on 19 November, and Carers Week each June. Browse all October awareness days and international observances on the calendar.

Last reviewed: 22 October 2026.

Official resources

• UN Women: International Day of Care and Support
• Carers UK — advice, policy briefings and State of Caring reports
• ITUC care campaign — global trade union resources
• Carers Worldwide — international advocacy and events