By Fiona Carmichael, Professor of Labour Economics at the University of Birmingham
Unpaid caregiving is undertaken by around 6.5 million people in the UK, that’s about 10% of the population. Caregivers provide help and support for ill, frail or disabled family members and friends. Many do not think of themselves as carers, they just see themselves as being a husband, a wife, a daughter, a son, a mother, father, friend or a good neighbour. The help they provide makes a large contribution to families and communities and the work carers do supports the NHS and wider social care provision in the UK. This contribution is becoming increasingly important as people live for longer and societies age. This is happening at the same time as cuts to local authority funding have put pressure on social care. In this context, caregivers face many challenges, they have needs of their own and their contribution is often under-appreciated and their voices are not always heard. Society needs to help by recognising the value of the unpaid work that carers do and giving them a louder voice in our communities.
As argued by Carers UK (2017) increased funding for social care would also help to reduce the demands that are put upon carers, for example by providing more formal support carers as well as the people they care for. Increasing financial support for carers by raising Carer’s Allowance (currently £62.70 a week) and the related earnings threshold (currently £116 a week after tax) would also go some way to supporting those carers who are unable to work full-time because of their caring responsibilities. According to Labour Force Survey data for quarter 4 of 2016, raising Carer’s Allowance would over 7.5 thousand carers who are claiming this benefit, that’s nearly 11% of carers and just over 1.33% of the working age population.
Who cares?
Data from the most recent wave of Understanding Society, a nationally representative longitudinal study funded through the ESRC and a consortium of government departments, indicates that 6.7% of adults are providing informal care for someone else living with them in the same household, and 13.4% of adults are caring for another family member or friend who they are not living with. The percentage of the population who will provide care at some point in their lives is of course much higher; research based on data from the British Household Panel Survey and Understanding Society suggests that this figure is in the region of 39% of the adult population (Carmichael and Ercolani, 2016).
The prime age for taking on a caring role is between 45 and 64. This is the age when many adults are providing more help for their parents and so it is not surprising that national surveys indicate that the majority (54.5%) of non-co-residential carers are caring for a parent or a parent-in-law. Caregiving can often begin with just a few hours of help and many people who provide care do so for only a few hours a week, perhaps helping another family member with their day to day living. Nevertheless, as time goes on the caring relationship can become closer, more committed and more emotionally intense. Data from Understanding Society indicates that 41% of carers care for 10 or more hours a week, 25% care for 20 or more hours a week and over 10% are providing care for 50 or more hours a week. For the most time-intensive carers, this is comparable with holding down at least a part-time job and in some cases a full-time job with many hours of overtime. Not surprising then that many time-intensive carers find it difficult to hold down or remain in paid employment. Among non-retired, co-residential carers who were asked by the Understanding Society survey whether their caring prevented them from doing a paid job or as much paid work, 23% said they were unable to work at all and 15% said they were unable to work as much.
An important caring role that is not often discussed is the care provided for people at the end of their lives. Most people spend the majority of the final 6 months of life at home and most prefer to die at home. While professional and third sector support is available, family and friends are the main providers of care and support for people in older age and at the end of their life). The National Council for Palliative Care says that at least half a million people are currently caring for someone at the end of life, and this number is rising in line with the growing population of older people. As the person they care for approaches the end of life, the time given to caring is likely to increase as the health of the person cared for deteriorates. Carers may also need to take a lead role in coordinating with the professionals involved in the care. All this can mean that caring for an elderly parent can become a defining feature of a carer’s life. With all of us living for longer, most of us are likely to take on a caring role for an elderly parent at some point in our lives.
Looking further
Campaigning for for Carers:
Carers UK Submission to 2017 Budget Consultation (2017)
Caring over life courses:
Carmichael, F. and Ercolani, M. (2016) Unpaid caring and paid employment: different life-histories and divergent outcomes, Social Science and Medicine, 156, 1-11
Care at the end of life:
Evaluation of End of Life Care (EconEndLife) Project at the Insitutue of APpplied Health Research, University of Birmingham
Round, J. (ed.) 2016. Care at the end of life, Palgrave Springer.
Young carers:
Professor Saul Becker: Reflections on 25 years of young carers research.
Compassion in caring:
Yvonne Sawbridge (Health Services Management Centre) and Alistair Hewison (School of Nursing) Compassion Recognition.
Including carer outcomes in research studies and decision-making:
Techniques to include carers’ quality of life in economic evaluation. Insitutute of Applied Health Research.