Employees should have the right to request flexible work arrangements and be entitled to six days of paid eldercare leave, said the Association of Women for Action and Research (Aware).

This will help support workers caring for older relatives and ensure that their own retirement nest eggs are not compromised, it added.

Announcing the results of a study involving interviews with 22 family caregivers and 22 care sector stakeholders, Aware's head of research and advocacy Shailey Hingorani said yesterday that Singaporeans can expect to face a growing family caregiving burden as a result of the ageing population.

"Devotion alone is not sustainable. It needs to be supported by more concrete assistance from the state," said Ms Hingorani.

The interviews were done from the middle of last year to July this year.

The study found that respondents taking on primary caregiving responsibilities - mostly unmarried women in their 50s and 60s caring for their elderly parents - experienced on average losses of almost $57,000 in annual income and $7,700 a year in Central Provident Fund (CPF) contributions.

Many said they were uncertain about being able to rejoin the workforce later or progress in their careers due to discrimination.

To counter this, the report recommended laws preventing workplace discrimination on the basis of age, gender and family responsibilities.

To help those who are not working, the report also called for a caregiver support grant that would include a cash component and a CPF component matched to prevailing employer contribution rates.

Some respondents cited other difficulties, such as a lack of care navigation or coordination services for those outside the hospital system, which makes it difficult to make cost-benefit comparisons between services.

To address this, Aware recommended expanding cluster support services (currently open to seniors who have little or no family support) and regulating and licensing private providers of eldercare services to ensure that standards of care are met.

Dr Rahul Malhotra, head of research at the Centre for Ageing Research and Education at Duke-NUS Medical School, said the study helps to fill a gap in existing research.

While the sample size of 22 is small, the qualitative findings are detailed and valuable, said Dr Malhotra, who was not involved in the Aware study.

Aware said it plans to submit the report for consideration in next year's national Budget.