Carers Trust responds to Family Resources Survey showing 'staggering' levels of unpaid care

Commenting on the newly-released Family Resources Survey data, Carers Trust’s Executive Director of Programmes, Policy and Impact, Rohati Chapman, said:

“These figures show the staggering levels of unpaid care so many people are forced to provide across the UK as the social care system struggles with demand and underinvestment. The data shows 8% of the UK population are providing unpaid care, with one third caring for more than 35 hours a week. The survey also lays bare how this responsibility continues to disproportionately fall on women, with 9% of women providing unpaid care compared to 6% of men.

“The financial impact of all this unpaid care is enormous and many rely on already stretched local carer organisations for support. The survey shows 25% of carers are not in paid employment, forcing many into poverty, while an astonishing 104,000 households receiving Carer’s Allowance have had to use a foodbank in the last 12 months. That’s why we urgently need initiatives that help unpaid carers into work and to stay in employment, alongside fundamental reform of the way the social security system supports unpaid carers, including an overhaul of Carer’s Allowance.”