Adult carer support plan and young carer statement numbers: FOI release

Information requested

1. The overall number of adult carer support plans which has been opened in Scotland by 1st March 2023.
2. The numbers of adult carer support plans which have been opened in each of Scotland’s regions by 1st March 2023.
3. The overall number of young carer statements which has been opened in Scotland by 1st March 2023.
4. The numbers of young carer statements which have been opened in each of Scotland’s regions by 1st March 2023.

Response

This information is sourced from the Carers Census, which runs from 1st April to 31st March each year. The latest publication presents data up until 31st March 2022. As such, we can only provide the number of adult carer support plans and young carer statements until 31st March 2022.

The Carers Census is classed as Experimental Statistics as the data quality is still being improved. We do not publish local breakdowns because differences in recording between organisations mean that any variation between areas is likely to be more reflective of what information organisations can provide rather than actual differences. The Carers Census also does not have full coverage of Scotland, as there are some areas where either statutory services, third sector or both could not submit information.

Therefore, while we have provided the local breakdowns as requested, we advise that the number of adult carer support plans and young carer statements should not be used to make comparisons between areas.

The data from the Carers Census is also likely to be an undercount of the true underlying number of adult carer support plans and young carer statements. Additionally, there is variation in local approaches which will influence the figures in different areas.

While not all organisations who submitted data carry out support plans, feedback suggests that there are also organisations that do not record their conversations with carers as adult carer support plans or young carers statements. There will also be times where an adult carer support plan or young carer statement is not appropriate or is declined by the carer.

Some organisations will have an initial conversation with carers and put support in place, but will use an adult carer support plan or young carer statement as an escalation tool if the carer’s situation worsens or their needs increase. Others will have a conversation with carers, put support in place and will record the data relevant to the carer but do not call this an adult carer support plan or young carer statement. As such, the data presented here will not fully represent the number of carers who have a support plan.

All numbers below have been rounded to the nearest 10. Cells with values under 5 have been supressed as indicated by a *. Cells denoted with NR indicate that no data was received from this area. Local Authority totals may not sum to the Scotland total due to rounding and because there were a small number of carers reported who could not be assigned to a Local Authority area.

1. The overall number of adult carer support plans which has been opened in Scotland.

As at the 2021-22 Carers Census (data until 31st March 2022), there were 13,350 carers who were recorded as having an adult carer support plan in place or being put in place.

2. The numbers of adult carer support plans which have been opened in each of Scotland’s regions.

Table 1: Number of adult carers recorded as having an adult carer support plan by Local Authority, Carers Census 2021-22 (Areas cannot be compared)

Local Authority	Number of adult carers recorded as having an adult carer support plan in place or being put in place
Aberdeen City	200
Aberdeenshire	340
Angus	1,030
Argyll & Bute	940
Clackmannanshire	210
Dumfries & Galloway	*
Dundee City	70
East Ayrshire	*
East Dunbartonshire	250
East Lothian	70
East Renfrewshire	10
Edinburgh	240
Eliean Siar	60
Falkirk	490
Fife	280
Glasgow City	2,210
Highland	340
Inverclyde	*
Midlothian	60
Moray	90
North Ayrshire	30
North Lanarkshire	1,670
Orkney Islands	NR
Perth and Kinross	820
Renfrewshire	100
Scottish Borders	440
Shetland Islands	10
South Ayrshire	300
South Lanarkshire	1,760
Stirling	700
West Dunbartonshire	450
West Lothian	170
Scotland	13,350

3. The overall number of young carer statements which has been opened in Scotland.

As at the 2021-22 Carers Census (data until 31st March 2022), there were 2,360 young carers recorded as having a young carer statement in place or being put in place.

4. The numbers of young carer statements which have been opened in each of Scotland’s regions

Table 2: Number of young carers recorded as having a young carer statement by Local Authority, Carers Census 2021-22 (Areas cannot be compared)

Local Authority	Number of young carers recorded as having a young carer statement in place or being put in place
Aberdeen City	*
Aberdeenshire	130
Angus	*
Argyll & Bute	200
Clackmannanshire	50
Dumfries & Galloway	0
Dundee City	*
East Ayrshire	0
East Dunbartonshire	30
East Lothian	50
East Renfrewshire	0
Edinburgh	340
Eliean Siar	0
Falkirk	80
Fife	560
Glasgow City	150
Highland	0
Inverclyde	0
Midlothian	90
Moray	30
North Ayrshire	30
North Lanarkshire	110
Orkney Islands	NR
Perth & Kinross	150
Renfrewshire	40
Scottish Borders	0
Shetland Islands	0
South Ayrshire	*
South Lanarkshire	110
Stirling	140
West Dunbartonshire	60
West Lothian	0
Scotland	2,360

About FOI

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