The headline was based on a poll with a small sample size and did not match exactly what was asked in the survey.
14 Aug 2020 | Facts and news from Full Fact
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** FACT CHECK
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** Express headline on how many carers fear for their jobs is flawed
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The Express published an article claiming that “as many as 4.7 million” people who have caring responsibilities could end up without a job due to “unsupportive” employers.
In their headline, they claimed “carers fear the sack if they put loved ones first.” But the poll this is based on does not mention sacking at all. The data comes from a survey of 2,004 UK adults, 280 of whom said they were carers.
178 carers, or around 8.9% of respondents to the survey said “yes” to the question: “do you think you would ever have no option but to give up your existing job to help care for a dependent or relative due to lack of support and flexibility from your employer?”
This percentage was then applied to the total UK adult population to give the 4.7 million figure. This makes assumptions about the entire UK population based on a small sample size of 280, and the smaller the sample of people who respond to a question the larger the margin of error is likely to be.
The question the Express headline is based on is phrased as a hypothetical. And the headline could suggest people are imminently in danger of losing jobs, rather than it being an unmeasured possibility sometime in the future.
We asked the Express to correct the article, and it has changed the headline and article to remove references to people facing "the sack" and the 4.7 million figure.
Problems with the poll ([link removed])
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This week the government put forward a proposal to require digital election material to explicitly show who is promoting it and on whose behalf - also known as a ‘digital imprint’.
Full Fact has been campaigning for the introduction of digital imprints for a long time, and we thank the hundreds of you who shared our calls via email and social media.
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** FACT CHECK
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** Facebook posts wrongly claim Covid-positive children can be detained without their parents’ permission ([link removed])
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We’ve seen a number of Facebook posts claiming that the Coronavirus Act means that children can be taken out of school without their parents’ permission and detained for 14 days if they are suspected to have Covid-19.
However, the government says a parent, carer or legal guardian would have to be present for a Covid-19 test to take place under the powers given to Public Health England in the Coronavirus Act.
The act doesn’t give the authorities the power to detain a child for 14 days without their parents’ knowledge or permission. It’s most likely that a child would be asked to self-isolate for 14 days at home with their family if they did not obey public health advice, but if this is not possible, other avenues would be discussed.
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** FACT CHECK
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** Also this week...
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* Coronavirus height study is a tall tale ([link removed])
* You were more likely to catch Covid-19 in Spain than the UK in late July ([link removed])
* Leicester residents are not being forcibly tested for coronavirus ([link removed])
* The RSPCA has said that they are worried people will abandon pets because the economic effects of Covid-19 ([link removed])
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