Information on Unpaid Carers

The analysis in the following section is based on the individual unpaid carers identified in the Carers Census. As it possible for multiple organisations to submit information on the same carer, the data has been de-duplicated to ensure that each carer is only included once in the results. This process is described in detail in the Data and Methodology section. As a result of the de-duplication process, only carers for whom date of birth, postcode and gender were provided were included in the final results.

A carer was included in an organisation’s Carers Census return 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
• requested or were offered 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, not all organisations were able to return information on unpaid carers meeting the above criteria. For instance, some organisations are only able to provide data for carers with a support plan but not for the other carers they support. There were also some areas where a return was received from either social work or third sector but not from both. The figures presented here will therefore be an undercount of the true number of carers being supported by local services.

Number of unpaid carers being supported

There were 44,310 unique carers identified in the Carers Census in 2022-23. This represents a 5% increase from the reported number of carers in 2021-22 (42,050).

While the previous increase from 31,760 carers in 2020-21 to 42,050 in 2021-22 was largely accounted for by a rise in the number of organisations submitting information; the increase observed this year may reflect a rise in the number of carers being supported by local services as well as further improving data quality. When looking only at organisations that submitted information in both 2021-22 and 2022-23, there was a 7% increase in the number of carers reported through the Carers Census.

The number of organisations returning data is similar to last year, although there were some who submitted information last year who did not this year and vice versa. As such, there are still some gaps in coverage across Scotland.

The differences in approach to carer support between local areas also make direct local comparisons inadvisable; as do the differences in data recording. For instance, some areas are only able to return information for carers who have a support plan in place while others are able to return information on all the carers they support. Therefore, no local area breakdowns are included in this publication.

Demographics of unpaid carers supported by local services

Three in five carers (60%) included in the Carers Census in 2022-23 were working age (18 - 64 year old) adults. Adults aged 65 and over accounted for a quarter of carers identified (25%) while young carers (carers aged under 18) made up 15% of the individual carers identified in 2022-23. These proportions are very similar to last year.

Around three-quarters of carers in the 2022-23 Carers Census (74%) were female, similar to last year. There are more female carers than male carers in every age group, but the difference is most pronounced in the working age carer group. Figure 1 shows that 80% of working age carers identified in the Carers Census were female in 2022-23. This is consistent with results from 2021-22, and 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, with females accounting for 58% of young carers and males accounting for 42%.

Figure 1: Female carers accounted for four in five working age carers in 2022-23

Source: Carers Census, Scotland, 2022-23

The data also indicates that there is a deprivation effect for unpaid carers being supported by local services, which is more pronounced for young carers than adult carers. As shown in Figure 2, 15% of young carers identified in the Carers Census lived in the top 10% most deprived areas, as identified by Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation (SIMD), compared to 4% who lived in least 10% deprived areas. This difference has also been seen in previous years and is consistent with previous findings on the total caring population such as those included in the report on Scotland’s Carers.

Figure 2: Young Carers were more likely to live in the most deprived SIMD deciles in 2022-23

Source: Carers Census, Scotland, 2022-23