About carers and caring

A carer provides support to someone who could not manage without this help.

Pictures of a range of carers from all backgrounds

This could be caring for a relative, partner or friend who is ill, frail, disabled or has mental ill-health or substance misuse problems. All the care they give is unpaid. 

A carer could be a spouse, partner, parent, sibling, child, friend or any other relation. Anybody from any background and of any age can be a carer and each carer’s experience is unique to their circumstances.

Just as the reasons why someone becomes a carer vary greatly, the variety of tasks that a carer takes on can be broad. They can include practical tasks such as:

  • cooking
  • cleaning
  • washing up
  • ironing
  • paying bills
  • financial management and engaging appropriate services
  • personal care such as bathing, dressing, lifting
  • administering medication and collecting prescriptions
  • emotional support such as listening, advocacy, problem-solving, motivating and companionship.

Taking on a caring role can mean facing a life of poverty, isolation, frustration, ill health and depression. Many carers go unidentified until many years into their caring role and the majority struggle alone unaware that help is available to them.

3 out of 5
people in the UK will become carers at some time in their lives
5.7 million
unpaid carers across the UK
Another 6,000
people take on a caring responsibility every day

Ethnic minority carers

Facing their additional challenges are ethnic minority carers. Here, we share a series of engaging short films featuring carers who speak about their everyday experiences. These films are presented in the community languages of Mandarin, Cantonese, Punjabi, and Urdu.

Over 1 million
people care for more than one person
Over 1.3 million
people provide over 50 hours care a week
1 million
Young carers in the UK

Carers’ key issues 

  • Breaks and respite - Carers and young carers need and are demanding more regular breaks from caring.  
  • Intensification of caregiving - Since COVID-19, we have seen an intensification of care all over the country. This is particularly worrying because people who provide high levels of care are less likely to be able to juggle a job with caring and are more likely to become poor, ill and isolated. 
  • Poverty - The latest Joseph Rowntree Foundation UK Poverty report (2024) found that nearly 1/3 of carers live in poverty.  
“There’s no sick pay, no annual leave, no bank holidays, no minimum rest breaks between “shifts”. It’s constant, and all for less than £2 an hour!” 
  •  Health and Well-being - Carers UK run the largest survey on carers in Europe, and the latest figures paint an increasingly bleak picture of the impact of caring on health and well-being. In summer 2023:

    • people providing high levels of care were twice as likely to be permanently sick or disabled. 
    • a significant proportion of carers are not seeking support with health conditions due to the demands of their caring role. 
  • Young people with caring responsibilities have a higher prevalence of self-harm. Of children who do self-harm, young carers are twice as likely to attempt to take their own life than non-carers. 
  • Employment - Working-age carers are less likely to be employed than those without caring responsibilities. Many people cut back their working hours to care, while others feel they must leave their employment altogether. The London School of Economics estimated that the cost of carers leaving employment to the public purse is £1.3 billion a year (in loss of tax and Carer’s Allowance payments). 
  • Education – Research shows that being a young carer has a knock-on effect on school attainment and attendance, with young carers missing 27 school days per year on average.   Young adult carers are substantially (38%) less likely to achieve a university degree than their peers without a caring role.
  •  
33,973
adults in Bristol looking after someone without being paid
26,652
adults in South Gloucestershire looking after someone with out being paid

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