Dementia caring obligations will cost companies more than £3 billion, a report has found.
As the population of England ages, the number of people with dementia is expected to rise to 1.09 million by 2030, the report from the Centre for Economics and Business Research for the Dementia Friends campaign found.
The report predicted this will have a huge impact on businesses as the number of workers reducing hours, changing work patterns or even quitting, due to the demands of caring, is expected to grow.
Findings also show that the number of people who will have left employment to care for people with dementia is set to rise from 50,000 in 2014, to 83,100 in 2030.
Yet, if companies increased their employment rate of dementia carers by just 2% over the years to 2030, for example by offering more flexible terms of employment, the retention of these skilled and experienced staff would deliver a saving of £415 million.
With a growing need for those over the age of 65 to stay in employment, by 2030, the cost of skills and experience lost from the workforce due to dementia will rise from £628 million to £1.16 billion.
Businesses have started to recognise this issue, with 1 in 12 companies (8%) having made attempts to accommodate the needs of a member of staff with dementia, and more than half (52.1%) considering taking such action in the future.
So far more than 20 major businesses have already signed up and are committed to supporting staff and customers with dementia. Over 100,000 employees from businesses including LloydsPharmacy and M&S are now Dementia Friends and a host of other companies such as Barclays, Lloyds Banking Group, Argos, BT and Bourne Leisure (Butlins, Haven and Warner Leisure Hotels) have also pledged for their staff to become Dementia Friends.
Duncan Selbie, Chief Executive of PHE, said:"It is encouraging to see that so many businesses are willing to make changes to accommodate those living with and caring for people with dementia. I'm delighted that more than 100,000 employees across the country have already become Dementia Friends. Making positive changes like this creates a more supportive environment generally and businesses have an important part to play in this.
"The report also flags that businesses which are not sufficiently dementia friendly will lose out. The value of the ‘dementia pound', which is the spending power of households affected by dementia, is set to double to £22.7 billion by 2030, from £11 billion in 2014, due to the rise in the number of people affected by the condition."
Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt said:"Dementia is 1 of the biggest challenges we face, and our ambition is to become 1 of the best countries in the world for dementia care. We can only do this with the help and support of every part of society.
"It's great that businesses, communities and individuals are showing such willingness to help and support those living with dementia - demonstrated by nearly 350,000 people who have already signed up to become Dementia Friends."
