Red Letter Days and Family Action: Mumpaid Labour

Gift experience provider Red Letter Days has teamed up with family support charity Family Action to recognise and raise awareness of the heightened pressures families have faced after a tumultuous year. They’ve launched a campaign to claim back 100,000 hours of ‘mumpaid labour’ ahead of Mother’s Day, to thank and repay mums, parents and carers for the unpaid additional responsibilities they’ve shouldered over the last year.

From the pressures of lockdowns and financial anxieties, to the unpaid responsibilities of housework and home-schooling, parents have had a lot to contend with - with limited outside support. Parents typically spend 2,184 hours on unpaid labour every year, but with all of us spending more time than usual at home, this figure has increased in recent months. Research shows that it is mostly mums in particular who have borne the brunt of the additional household responsibilities taken on since last Mother’s Day; spending less time on paid work and more time on housework during the pandemic.

Ahead of Mother’s Day 2021, Red Letter Days and Family Action want to shine a spotlight on this ‘mumpaid labour’, recognising and thanking mothers for their hard work this year, and encouraging loved ones to show their appreciation by doing something thoughtful to help give them back some time.