Most developed countries have introduced significant changes in housing and longterm care policies for older people. Simultaneously, there is increasing policy and economic emphasis on extending working lives and on changes to pension schemes. These changes have combined to have negative consequences for working-age family carers. In this contribution, Madeleine Starr MBE, Director of Business Development and Innovation at Carers UK, and Marta Szebehely, Professor of Social Work at Stockholm University, Sweden, discuss the situations in the UK and Sweden – two countries with different policy traditions but facing similar challenges.