2019

Informal care involves ongoing care and support provided which is "unpaid".  The individual providing the unpaid care and support is called an "informal carer". These carers are essential to the service user who needs the care and support. They may work for a few hours a day or round the clock. Research from Carers UK (2019) shows that in the UK:

"In 2019 there were an estimated 8.8 million adult carers in the UK" this has gone up by 2 million from 2015.

"There are almost 7.6 million family carers in the UK over the age of 16"

"3 in 5 people will be carers at some point in their lives"

"1.4 million people provide over 50 hours of unpaid care in the week"

"The unpaid care provided by the nations carers' is worth an estimated £132 billion per year - considerably more spending than total spending on the NHS in England"

"1 in 5 people aged 50-64 are carers"

"1.2 million carers are in poverty in the UK"

"43% of carers said their financial circumstances were affecting their health"

"Carers are 7 times more likely to say they are always or often lonely compared with the general population"

2023

State of Caring survey 2023. Over 11,000 carers shared their views with us. Here are a selection of the results:

40% of carers have caring duties of over 50 hours a week, some have given up full time work and over 20% have needed to reduce their working hours.

"Over half (57%) of people who had stopped working or reduced their hours at work to care said they had done this because of the stress of juggling work and care"

"Nearly half (49%) of carers who had given up work or reduced their working hours had seen their income reduce by over £1,000 per month"

"More than a quarter (27%) of unpaid carers have bad or very bad mental health, rising to 31% of those caring for more than 50 hours a week, or for over 10 years"

"More than a quarter (27%) of unpaid carers have bad or very bad mental health, rising to 31% of those caring for more than 50 hours a week, or for over 10 years"

"72% are worried about the impact of caring responsibilities (e.g. petrol for hospital visits, heating, specific dietary requirements) on their finances" 

"54% had cut back on seeing family and friends, compared with 43% in 2022 and 38% in 2021" 

 Link to the website found here carersUK