Can You Share Your Good Fortune?

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• According to the last Census in 2011, 6.5 million people in the UK are providing unpaid care
• Every year, 4.3 million people became unpaid carers – 12,000 people a day
• 58% of unpaid carers are women. Women are more likely to become carers and to provide more hours of unpaid care than men. More women than men provide high intensity care at ages when they would expect to be in paid work
• One in seven carers in the UK are juggling work and care
• Between 2010-2020, people aged 46-65 were the largest age group to become unpaid carers. 41% of people who became unpaid carers were in this age group

The value of unpaid care was estimated at £530 million per day and £193 billion per year during the pandemic.

With the current cost of living crisis, carers are facing unprecedented pressure on their finances: a quarter of carers (25%) are cutting back on essentials like food or hearing and 63% are extremely worried about managing their monthly costs. Caring comes with additional costs that can have a significant impact on carers’ finances and many carers suffer financial hardship. 44% of working-age adults who are caring for 35 hours or more a week are in poverty. Carer's Allowance is the main carer's benefit and is £69.70 for a minimum of 35 hours. It is the lowest benefit of its kind.  In the UK, 977,506 carers were in receipt of Carer’s Allowance in 2022.

Caring can have a significant impact on health and wellbeing. 60% of carers report a long-term health condition or disability compared to 50% non-carers. Over a quarter of carers (29%) feel lonely often or always. There is increasing evidence that caring should be considered a social determinant of health.

On average, 600 people a day leave work to care – with over 500,000 people leaving work to provide unpaid care pre-pandemic. 75% of carers in employment worry about continuing to juggle work and care. 1 in 3 NHS staff provide unpaid care. Between 2010 and 2020, more than 1.9 million people in paid employment became unpaid carers every year.