Information on Unpaid Carers

The analysis in the following section is based on the individual unpaid carers identified in the Carers Census. Given that carers can receive support from multiple organisations, the submitted data has been de-duplicated to ensure that each carer is only included once in the results. This process is described in more detail in the Data and Methodology section. As a result of the de-duplication process, generally 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 submission 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 carers receiving other types of support. There were also some areas where a return was received from either social work or third sectors, but not from both. Therefore, the findings presented in this publication will likely represent an undercount of the true number of unpaid carers being supported by local services in Scotland.

Number of unpaid carers being supported

There were 52,000 unique carers identified in the Carers Census in 2023-24. This represents a 17% increase from the reported number of carers in 2022-23 (44,310). However, changes in the total number of carers identified between years should be interpreted with caution due to variations in response rates across years, as well as methodological changes, which are described in more detail in the Data and Methodology section of this report.

The trend seen in previous years up to 2021-22 indicated that the increase in the number of carers reflected an increase in the number of organisations who provided data. Conversely, the previous increase from 42,050 carers in 2021-22 to 44,310 in 2022-23 more reflected a rise in the number of carers being supported by local services – when considering only organisations that submitted information both years, there was a 7% increase in the number of carers being reported.

This trend appears to continue in the most recent year, with a 22% increase seen in the number of carers being reported by organisations who submitted a return in both 2022-23 and 2023-24. This may, however, be driven in part by the development and extension of the de-duplication process, and therefore should be interpreted with caution.

In addition, improving data quality and a higher overall response rate may contribute to the increase in the number of carers reported in 2023-24. An extensive review of the organisations included in the Carers Census resulted in a consolidated list of data providers. Some organisations submit data for other providers, for example Carers Centres may submit data on behalf of the corresponding Local Authority. Developing a clearer understanding of such cases enabled us to remove organisations from whom a response should not be expected, which affects the denominator used to calculate the overall response rate. Further, additional organisations to be included were identified, resulting in an overall increase in the number of organisations submitting returns. As such, a corresponding increase in the response rate was seen, from 65% in 2022-23 to 78% in 2023-24.

The number of organisations returning data is higher than 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.

Further, the differences in approach to carer support between local areas, as well as differences in data recording, make direct local comparisons inadvisable. Therefore, no local area breakdowns are included in this publication.

Demographics of unpaid carers supported by local services

Three in five carers (58%) included in the Carers Census in 2023-24 were working age (18-64 year old) adults. Adults aged 65 and over accounted for around a quarter of carers identified (26%) while young carers (aged under 18) made up 16% of the individual carers identified in 2023-24. These proportions are very similar to last year.

Around three-quarters of carers in the 2023-24 Carers Census (73%) were female, similar to last year. There are more female carers than male carers in all age groups, but this 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 2023-24. This is consistent with results from 2022-23, and previous findings based on the total carer population from the Scottish Health Survey, 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 2023-24

Carers identified by age and gender in the Carers Census, Scotland, 2023-24.

Based on 51,840 records where information is available.

The data also indicates 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 10% most deprived areas, as identified by Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation (SIMD), compared to 5% of young carers who lived in the 10% least deprived areas. This difference is similar to previous years, and is also consistent with findings on the total caring population, such as those included in the Scottish Health Survey and the report on Scotland’s Carers.

Figure 2: Young Carers were more likely to live in the most deprived SIMD deciles in 2023-24

Adult and Young Carers identified by SIMD Decile in the Carers Census, Scotland, 2023-24.

Based on 43,510 records where information is available on Adult Carers, and 8,320 records for Young Carers.