Who provides informal care?

The Department of Health and Social Care has described an informal/unpaid carer (PDF) as: “…someone who provides unpaid help to a friend or family member needing support, perhaps due to illness, older age, disability, a mental health condition or an addiction”, as long as they are not employed to do so.

How many informal carers are there?

The Family Resources Survey estimated that in 2022/23 around 8% of the UK population (5.2 million people) were providing informal care. The survey defines informal caring as care that is not a paid job, and can occur for many or only a few hours a week. In each year since 2009/10, women represented around 60% of informal carers.

In terms of young carers, census data from the 2021 census for England and Wales, the 2021 census for Northern Ireland and the 2022 census for Scotland provides some information. In Scotland, the census was delayed due to the coronavirus pandemic. Available census data shows the number of carers aged 24 or younger in England and Wales and Scotland, and aged 15 years or under in Northern Ireland. The 2021 and 2022 (where relevant) census found there were:

• 334,300 carers aged 24 or younger in England;
• 22,600 carers aged 24 or younger in Wales; and
• 52,300 carers aged 24 or younger in Scotland; and
• 2,600 carers aged 15 or younger in Northern Ireland.

A 2013 report from the Children’s Society (PDF) found young carers were 1.5 times more likely than their peers to be from Black, Asian or minority ethnic groups.

The total number of people providing unpaid care has fallen between the 2011 census and the 2021 census, by around 2% in England and Wales and around 0.5% in Northern Ireland. Most of this change is explained by fewer people providing 0 to 19 hours of care per week.

The NHS has acknowledged the “vital contribution” of carers, saying it was “critical and underappreciated … not only to loved ones, neighbours and friends, but to the very sustainability of the NHS in England”.

Carers in employment and poverty

The Family Resources Survey found that in 2022/23, 50% of informal carers aged 16 and above were in employment compared with 60% of everyone aged 16 and above.

The Joseph Rowntree Foundation’s 2024 Poverty Report estimated 28% of carers in the UK were living in relative poverty after housing costs in 2021/22. This is the number of carers living in households with income below 60% of median household income, where income is measured after deducting housing costs.

Further reading

The following briefings by the Commons Library provide more information on unpaid carers and the support available:

• Informal carers’ employment rights and support
• Local authority support for informal carers
• Informal carers health and wellbeing
• Young carers in education

The Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology (POST) has also published a POSTnote on unpaid care (19 July 2018).