Carers Trust statement in response to new ONS data on impact of Coronavirus on unpaid carers

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) has today released data from a survey conducted in April 2020 looking at the impact of Coronavirus on people in the UK providing help or support to family, friends and neighbours.

In the section “Carers who look after people they live with have also been affected by the pandemic”, it is reported that 84% of unpaid family carers said “they were very or somewhat worried about the effect that coronavirus (COVID-19) was having on their life”.

In the same section it is reported that, of those surveyed, “carers were more likely [than non-carers] to say there was a strain on their personal relationships, their mental health was worse, or they did not have anyone to talk to about their worries”.

Carers Trust is issuing the following statement in response to the data contained in the ONS report published today.

“The ONS data shows a huge increase in the number of people who have found themselves having to support vulnerable family and friends through the pandemic in the form of shopping.

“But as the data shows, the additional strain caused by Coronavirus has fallen most severely on unpaid family carers who were already under immense pressure before the virus struck, caring around the clock and out of sight for family members. We hear daily from across our network of local partners services how the pandemic has made a bad situation for unpaid carers far, far worse. So it is tragic, but unsurprising, to learn now that carers are more likely than non-carers to report how they are left with no one to talk to and how they are experiencing an inevitable deterioration in their mental health.

“This is why Carers Trust was disappointed with yesterday’s summer statement from the Chancellor. Despite today’s latest evidence from the ONS on how unpaid carers are at breaking point, all we heard yesterday was how there was to be no additional support for social care funding, nor for unpaid family carers. This latest evidence underlines just how vital it is for the government to address the crisis in the funding of social care, so that unpaid carers are not left on their own to provide social care in our communities.”