Partial recognition without redistribution: unpaid care in the devolved UK during COVID-19

The COVID-19 pandemic elevated care work as it was applauded on doorsteps and deemed ‘essential’ by governments. Yet this rhetorical visibility stood in stark contrast to its persistent structural invisibility. In the UK, women disproportionately shouldered the burden of social reproduction as healthcare workers, childcare providers, and unpaid carers, all while facing heightened job insecurity, domestic violence, and mental health strain. These patterns, mirrored globally, were exacerbated by policy responses that largely failed to recognise or support unpaid care. Feminist scholars have long shown how health crises reinforce gendered divisions of labour and marginalise unpaid care; this paper explores how that pattern was reproduced in the UK’s pandemic response, shaped by a decade of austerity and a residual model of care governance. Drawing on feminist political economy and critical policy analysis, this study compares how the four UK administrations–England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland–approached unpaid care across four domains of childcare, adult care, workplace flexibility, and public recognition. The analysis of policy documents reveals marked divergence: while Westminster leaned heavily on unpaid care with minimal support, devolved administrations adopted more redistributive measures, exposing the ideological and institutional logics that shape how care is valued in crisis.