Research from the Centre for Care has shown that the number of unpaid carers in Britain was risen significantly over the past 10 years.
They have compiled data from the last two censuses that shows:
- There are approximately 5 million unpaid carers nationally
- The care work of these carers has an economic value of £162 billion (essentially a second NHS)
- Unpaid carers are highly likely to not be in employment (48.7% nationally) and to be living with a disability themselves (28% nationally)
The Centre for Care have created a dashboard that allows you to find your local statistics for each local authority area in England and Wales (in two-tier council areas this is provided at district level).
ALDC has worked with the Centre for Care to produce a Campaign Pack with resources you can use to call for more council support for unpaid carers in your area.
These resources include a Council Motion and follow up communications that use local figures to call for a number of council actions to develop a strategy to support unpaid carers – both in terms of skills, jobs and finances but also to ensure they can access the health and well-being support that they need.
You can copy and adapt the below resources using the dashboard data for your council:
- Council Motion
- Focus Drop In – Affinity – PDF
- Press Release
- Social Media Graphics
- Social Media Post