Carers Census, Scotland, 2019-20 and 2020-21

3. Information on Carers

The analysis in the following section is based on the individual carers identified through the de-duplication process, as set out in Section 2.1.

A carer was included in the Carers Census if they:

• had an Adult Carer Support Plan (ACSP) or Young Carer Statement (YCS) or review of their needs as a carer during the reporting period; or
• were offered or requested an ACSP or YCS during the reporting period; and/or
• received a specified support service (including short breaks or respite) during the reporting period.

However, systems to collect and record the required information were still being implemented at the time the Carers Census data was submitted. As such, multiple providers were unable to return information on all of the carers meeting the above criteria. The figures presented below will therefore be an undercount of the true number of carers being supported by local services.

3.1 Number of Carers across Scotland

There were 32,690 unique carers identified in the Carers Census in 2019-20 and 31,760 in 2020-21. This is greater than the 23,180 unique carers identified in the 2018-19 publication. However, it should be noted that since the 2018-19 publication covered 6 months as opposed to a full year, the figures in this report should not be directly compared to the 2018-19 publication.

Returns were not received from all data providers for 2019-20 and 2020-21, therefore there are some gaps in coverage across Scotland. Due to these gaps and the differing completeness of the submitted data returns, there are no local area breakdowns included in this publication. This is because, given these issues with data completeness, any differences observed between areas are as likely to be reflective of the underlying data quality and coverage as to be due to differences in the number of carers being supported.

3.2 Demographics

Age and Gender

Around 3 in 5 carers (62%) included in the Carers Census in 2020-21 were working age (18 - 64 year old) adults, compared to 57% in 2019-20. Adults aged 65 and over accounted for roughly a quarter of carers identified (24% in 2020-21 compared to 29% in 2019-20). Young carers (carers aged under 18) made up 14% of the individual carers identified in 2020-21, compared to 13% of carers in 2019-20. This proportion is higher than the previous estimates in the Scotland's Carers - Update Release concerning the total carer population, which suggested that young carers account for less than 5% of unpaid carers. This may indicate that carer support services are reaching a greater proportion of young carers than adult carers, since the Carers Census only includes carers who are being supported by local services.

Around 7 in 10 carers in the 2020-21 Carers Census (71%) and the 2019-20 Carers Census (73%) were female. This proportion is higher than that seen in the Scotland's Carers report, which was based on the total carer population, which suggest that closer to 60% of unpaid carers were female. This difference might suggest that female carers are more likely to seek out support from services than male carers.

There are more female carers than male carers in every age group in both the 2019-20 and 2020-21 censuses, but the difference is most pronounced in the working age carer group. Figure 1 shows that 76% of working age carers were female in 2020-21. This is consistent with previous findings based on the total carer population which suggested that females of working age are more likely to provide unpaid care than working age males. The data indicates that the gender gap is narrowest for young carers in both years, with females accounting for 58% of young carers and males accounting for 40% of young carers in 2020-21.

Source: Carers Census, Scotland, 2019-20 and 2020-21

Deprivation

There does not appear to be much difference in the number of adult carers by deprivation in the Carers Census in 2020-21; however, there is a marked difference for young carers. As shown in Figure 2, 14% of young carers in the Carers Census lived in the most deprived Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation (SIMD) decile compared to 5% who lived in the least deprived SIMD decile. This difference is also seen in 2019-20 and is consistent with previous findings such as those included in the report on Scotland's Carers.

Source: Carers Census, Scotland, 2019-20 and 2020-21

3.3 Caring roles

The roles of unpaid carers are highly varied. Carers can provide many types of care for the people they care for; such as providing emotional support or helping with shopping, cleaning and other domestic tasks. Some carers will be caring more intensively than others and may be caring for more than one person. This will all contribute to the impact that providing care and support has on a carer.

The analysis in this section is based on those carers for whom information was available. Data completeness for the information in this section was fairly low overall, which should be taken into consideration when interpreting the results.

Carers' Ability and Willingness to Care

The Carers (Scotland) Act 2016 aims to enable unpaid carers to be better supported so that they can continue to care, if they wish to do so. There will be some cases where carers are not able or willing to provide care and support but may still have to continue to do so.

Based on the 6,240 records for which information on both carers' ability and willingness to provide care was available, the data suggests that 99% of carers were willing to provide care and that 97% were able to do so in 2020-21. This is a similar proportion to 2019-20. The data also suggests that 97% of carers were both able and willing to provide care. However, it is important to note that information on both ability and willingness to care was only available for a fifth of records in 2020-21, so these results should be treated with care.

Table 3: Percentage of Carers Able and / or Willing to provide care in 2020-21

Carers Willingness to provide care	Carer Able to provide care	Carer Not Able to provide care	All
Carer Willing to provide care	97%	2%	99%
Carer Not Willing to provide care	<1%	1%	1%
All	97%	3%	100%

Note: Based on the 6,240 records containing information on both carers' willingness and ability to provide care.

Intensity of Care Provided

Based on the 17,150 records with information on intensity of care in 2020-21, 54% of carers spent an average of 50+ hours a week providing care. This is slightly less than the 59% of carers in 2019-20 but is double the proportion (27%) reported in the Scotland's Carers report, which looked at the total caring population. This may reflect the fact that people with more intense caring roles are more likely to seek support from local services.

In 2020-21, 17% of carers for whom information on intensity of care was available spent less than 19 hours per week providing care compared to 14% in 2019-20. This is around a third of the proportion (56%) reported in Scotland's Carers, but again may suggest that people with more intense caring roles are more likely to seek support from local services and so be included in the Carers Census.

Figure 3 shows that the intensity of care provided varied between adult carers and young carers. In 2020-21, 66% of young carers spent less than 19 hours a week providing care compared to 11% of adult carers. This difference was also observed in the 2019-20 data and likely reflects differences in the capacity for, and the appropriateness of, higher levels of caring between adult carers and young carers.

Source: Carers Census, Scotland, 2019-20 and 2020-21

Based on 17,150 records containing information on intensity of care provided

Impact of Caring on Carers

Providing care and support to family members, friends and neighbours can have multiple impacts, both positive and negative, on a carer's life.

The data shows that, while the areas of carers' lives impacted by providing care were similar in 2019-20 and 2020-21, there was an overall reduction in the proportion of impacts reported. This is contrary to anecdotal evidence of carers reporting negative impacts due to the pressures arising from the Covid-19 pandemic, and the resulting limitation of services and support. The reduction reported here may be due to the fact that only carers who were being actively supported by local services were included in the Carers Census.

There were 13,650 records with information on the impact of the caring role in 2019-20 and 11,490 records with this information in 2020-21. There was little change in the proportion of carers experiencing an impact on emotional well-being and life balance between 2019-20 and 2020-21. In both years, impact on emotional well-being was the most commonly reported (80% in 2019-20 and 76% in 2020-21). This was followed by impact on carers' life balance, with 72% reporting this in 2019-20 compared with 67% in 2020-21.

As seen in Figure 4, the biggest reduction was observed for carers who reported that their caring role made them feel valued. In 2019-20, the data indicates that 49% of carers felt valued for providing care but this fell to 30% in 2020-21. There were also noticable reductions in the proportion of carers recorded as experiencing impacts on their finances, employment and living environment between 2019-20 and 2020-21 (all -16%).

Source: Carers Census, Scotland, 2019-20 and 2020-21

Based on 13,650 records from 2019-20 and 11,490 records from 2020-21

Note: Carers can be impacted by caring in may ways, so individual categories will not sum to 100%.

The data for both 2019-20 and 2020-21 also suggests that adult carers and young carers were impacted differently by their caring roles. In 2020-21, adult carers were more likely than young carers to experience impacts on their health (56% compared to 27%), finance (34% compared to 20%) and future plans (43% compared to 19%). These differences were slightly more pronounced in 2019-20. Young carers were more likely to experience an impact on their emotional well-being due to their caring role than adult carers in both years. In 2020-21, data suggested that 89% of young carers experienced an impact on their emotional well-being, compared to 74% of adult carers.

The impacts of providing care varied depending on the average number of hours of cared provided per week. The data suggests that the more hours of care a week provided by carers, the more likely they are to experience impacts on their health, employment and living environment. For instance, in 2020-21 29% of carers providing up to 19 hours of care per week experienced an impact on their health compared to 60% of those caring for 50+ hours a week. This is shown in Figure 5.

Source: Carers Census, Scotland, 2019-20 and 2020-21

Based on 8,690 records with information on the intensity and impact of caring

Note: Carers can be impacted by providing care in many ways, so categories will not sum to 100%.

While it may be expected that the impact of caring would vary a great deal depending on the relationship with the cared for person and the reason for caring (e.g. cared for person's dementia, learning disability etc.), this did not appear to be the case.

Some situations seemed to lead to more carers experiencing impacts overall; for instance, people caring for a person on the Autism spectrum or a learning disability appeared to be more likely to experience impacts due to their caring role. Also, people caring for a child or grandchild appeared to be less likely to experience impacts due to their caring role than people caring for a parent or grandparent. However, no group appeared more likely to experience particular impacts of caring as a result of their relationship to the cared for person.

In 2019-20, the data suggests that people who lived with the person they were caring for were much more likely to experience impacts due to their caring role – particularly on their finances (57% compared to 37% of carers not living with the person they provide care for) and living environment (58% compared to 38% of carers not living with the person they provide care for). However, these differences appear to have reduced greatly in 2020-21. Again, this may be due to the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic and the changes to people's everyday living situations.

3.4 Support Plans, Needs and Support Provided

The analysis in this section is based on those carers for whom information was available. Data completeness for the information in this section was fairly low overall, which should be taken into consideration when interpreting the results.

Adult Carer Support Plans (ACSPs) and Young Carer Statements (YCSs)

Under the Carers (Scotland) Act 2016, all carers have the right to a new ACSP or YCS based on their personal outcomes and needs for support. As systems to collect and record this information are still being implemented, some data providers were unable to return variables on ACSPs and YCSs for 2019-20 and 2020-21.

Out of the 31,760 individual carers in the 2020-21 Carers Census, information related to ACSPs and YCSs (including date of offer or request, whether the plan was completed or not and whether or not the plan was incomplete) was present for 66% of records. This information was also available for 59% of records in 2019-20.

Of those records where there was information available in 2020-21, and so an ACSP or YCS must have been offered or requested, the data showed that 41% of carers had a completed ACSP or YCS and for 47% their ACSP or YCS was recorded as incomplete. This means that the plan was offered or requested but not finished. For 6% of these records with an incomplete support plan this was because the plan was declined by the carer and for 12% a plan was deemed to be not appropriate.

Table 4: Percentage of ACSPs or YCSs completed or declined by end of 2020-21

	ACSP or YCS completed	ACSP or YCS incomplete
Adult Carers	41%	46%
Young Carers	41%	51%
All Carers	41%	47%

Note: Based on 20,950 records with information relating to ACSPs and YCSs in 2020-21.

The figures above include all instances of where there was some information on support plans available. When looking solely at records where there was information on the date the plan was offered, the data shows that there was a 28% reduction in the number of completed ACSPs and YCSs between 2019-20 and 2020-21. This is likely a result of the Covid-19 pandemic and the subsequent emergency legislation passed in order to ease pressures on local services.

Carers' Support Needs

Carers can have multiple support needs; including short breaks or respite, counselling or emotional support, or assistance with benefits.

Based on the 9,090 records for which information on carers' support needs was available in 2020-21, around two-thirds were recorded as needing advice and information and just under half were recorded as needing short breaks or respite. This is very similar to 2019-20.

The data suggests that support needs vary between adult carers and young carers, as shown in Figure 6. In 2020-21, adult carers were more likely to be recorded as needing advice and information (72% compared to 39% of young carers) and practical support (23% compared to 8% of young carers). This is broadly similar to 2019-20. Young carers were more likely to be recorded as peer or group support (16% compared to 3% of adult carers) in 2020-21.

Source: Carers Census, Scotland, 2019-20 and 2020-21

Based on 9,090 records with information on carer support needs

Note: Carers can have multiple support needs, so individual categories will not sum to 100%. Other support needs include recreation, well-being and support for the person being cared for.

The data suggests that carers' needs seem to vary slightly depending on the reason for cared for person requires care. For instance, people caring for someone with a learning disability appear to be slightly more likely than people caring for other groups to require short breaks or respite. Also, the data indicates that people caring for someone with dementia or on the autism spectrum seem to be more likely to be assessed as needing advice and information. The data also shows that people may be more likely to need advice and information or counselling or emotional support if they are caring for a parent or grandparent.

Support provided (or intending to be provided) to Carers

Carers may be provided with multiple types of support to meet their needs and to help support their caring role. A carer can be provided with support without needing to have an ACSP or YCS in place.

Based on the 18,320 records in 2020-21 for which information on support provided (or intending to be provided) to carers was available, 85% of carers were provided with advice and information in 2020-21 and 29% were provided with short breaks or respite. This is similar to 2019-20, where 77% of carers were provided with advice and information and 29% were provided with short breaks or respite.

The data suggests that there were differences in the support provided to adult carers and to young carers, as shown in Figure 7. Young carers were more likely to be provided with short breaks or respite (50% compared to 27% of adult carers) and peer or group support (34% compared to 4% of adult carers). This may reflect the different support needs for young carers. The same pattern was observed in 2019-20. Adult carers were more likely to be provided with advice and information (89% compared to 52% of young carers in 2020-21).

Source: Carers Census, Scotland, 2019-20 and 2020-21

Based on 18,320 records with information on type of support needed

Note: Carers can be provided with more than one form of support, so individual categories will not sum to 100%. Other support provided includes recreation, well-being and support for the person being cared for.

Based on the 7,250 records in 2020-21 where information on both support needs and support provided (or intending to be provided) was available, the data suggests that nearly everyone who was recorded as needing advice and information (98%) was provided with this support. The data also indicates that 4 in 5 people who needed short breaks or respite (83%), or practical support (79%), was provided with that support. This is similar to 2019-20.