Huge rise in Scotland's carers revealed by Census shows urgent need for more support, Carers Trust says
Scotland Census 2022 data released today has revealed a massive 27.5% increase in those providing unpaid care since 2011 across all ages. It reports that 12% of the Scottish population are now providing unpaid care and that a higher percentage of females are providing unpaid care (13.5%) than males (10.1%). Shockingly, almost a quarter (24.3%) of unpaid are spending 50 hours or more per week providing unpaid care.
Commenting on this, Paul Traynor, Head of External Affairs at Carers Trust Scotland, said:
“Scotland’s Census results have shown why much more needs to be done to better support unpaid carers or all ages. Unfortunately the vast increase of recorded unpaid carers is not a shock to us at Carers Trust. More and more people have care needs and the reduction in available social care is resulting in more people providing unpaid care.
“Almost a quarter of people in Scotland are caring for over 50 hours per week, pushing them to the limit. Local carer organisations are essential in helping to support unpaid carers, but they need adequate and sustainable funding and must be recognised as equal partners in the delivery of social care.
“All too often, excessive demands on unpaid carers leads to burnout, with knock on effects on their ability to care. No unpaid carer should experience negative effects on their own health. We need to ensure unpaid carers are able to have and sustain good health and wellbeing. In order to help achieve this, unpaid carers need regular breaks from caring and Scottish Government should move apace to introduce a right to a break from caring and invest in short break service provision across Scotland.
“With an aging population and an increase of people reporting health conditions in Scotland’s Census, the need for more people to provide unpaid care will only continue to soar. We need swift action to properly invest in and improve social care support and services.”