Introduction

The data reported here relates to unpaid carers who had a support plan or were supported by local services during 2022-23.

Unpaid carers provide unpaid care and support to family members, friends and neighbours. The exact number of unpaid carers living in Scotland is not known but it was estimated in the latest Scotland's Carers - Update Release that the number of unpaid carers living in Scotland is around 700,000 to 800,000. However, many of these carers will never need to come into contact with carer support services.

The Carers Census collects a variety of information on unpaid carers who are being supported by local services and the support that they are provided with in order to help monitor the implementation of the Carers (Scotland) Act 2016, which took effect on 1 April 2018. The Act puts in place a system of carers’ rights designed to improve consistency of support and prevent problems in order to help sustain caring relationships and protect carers’ health and well-being. Data is collected directly from Local Authorities and Carer Centres, which are independent charities that offer practical support, advice and information to unpaid carers.

The quality of the data presented here is still being improved and so results will likely represent an undercount of the true number of unpaid carers being supported by local services. For further information, please see the Data and Methodology section.

An Official Statistics in Development Publication for Scotland

These statistics are official statistics in development. Official statistics in development may be new or existing statistics, and will be tested with users, in line with the standards of trustworthiness, quality, and value in the Code of Practice for Statistics.

The implementation of the Carers Act was a significant change to practice. It has required changes to the data that is collected by Local Authorities and Carer Centres and the implementation of new systems to collect and record that data. This process is still ongoing, and so the quality of the data is improving over time. We run information sessions with data providers during each collection period to allow providers to ask questions and clarify the data to be included.

Scottish Government statistics are regulated by the Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR). OSR sets the standards of trustworthiness, quality and value in the Code of Practice for Statistics that all producers of official statistics should adhere to.