Carers in Scotland: Carers Demographic

Scottish Household Survey

Regular help and care

The Scottish Household Survey is Scotland's largest sample survey commissioned by the Scottish Executive to provide accurate up-to-date information on the characteristics, composition and behaviour of Scottish households in a number of key policy areas, eg. transport, social inclusion and public services.

SHS Bulletin No 4 focuses on health, care, childcare and volunteering. It is based on nationally representative data collected from 10,832 households throughout Scotland between February and September 1999.

SHS Bulletin No 4 states that, "Regular help and care are examined both from the perspective of those receiving and those providing, regular help or care. The latter deals with the provision of regular help or care to household members and people outside the household."

Summary of key figures

• 12% of households contain one or more people who need regular help or care because they are sick, disabled or elderly * For single pensioner households, this figure rises to 22%
• More people in less well-off areas need regular help or care, eg. 17% of people in disadvantaged council estates compared to 12% overall
• 60% of households containing someone who needs regular help or care have a net annual household income of less than £10,000 compared with 48% of households that do not
• 41% or care is provided by both co- and extra-resident carers
• 38% of care is provided by someone outside the household (extra-resident)
• 17% of care is provided by both co- and extra-resident carers
• 4% of those who need regular help or care have no-one providing it
• 51% of care by a co-resident is provided continuously
• 18% of extra-resident carers are providing 20+ house a week
• 10% of adults provide help or care for a sick, disabled or elderly person not living with them
• this figure rises to 16% of adults between the ages of 45-59
• 68% of extra-resident carers provide help or care for a parent or parent-in-law
• 35% for another relative
• 14% provide care for a friend or neighbour
• 9% of extra-resident carers say that caring prevents them from doing any paid work or as much work as they would want to do.

What do the figures tell us?

The figures do not correlate directly to the General Household Survey 1995. However, there are some areas of comparison, as follow:

• continuous care by someone living in the same household is 51% in the SHS compared to 38% in the GHS
• 18% of extra-resident carers in Scotland are providing 20+ hours care, compared to 13% in the GHS
• In Scotland, 10% of adults provide care to someone not in the same household which is more or less the same as the UK figure of 11%
• In Scotland, 68% of carers caring for someone in another household are caring for a parent/parent-in-law compared to 55% in the GHS
• In Scotland, 35% of carers caring for someone in another household are caring for another relative compared to 20% in the GHS
• In Scotland, 14% of carers caring for someone in another household are caring for a friend or neighbour compared to 22% in the GHS
• Note: the above three figures add up to more than 100% because multiple responses were allowed.

According to the General Household Survey, dependants who lived with their carers were 25% less likely to receive visits from service providers than those who lived apart. With a higher percentage or of co-resident carers being at the heavy end of caring, the SHS figure of 51% co-resident carers providing continuous care could mean a greater level of unmet need.

The SHS statistic of nearly on in five extra-resident carers being at the heavy end of caring may have implications for particular services. The GHS mentions that the services most frequently mentioned by those whose dependants lived in another household were h9ome helps (30%), community or district nurses (16%), doctors, (15%) and meals on wheels (12%).

The other key figure is in relation to net household income in households where someone needs help or care. Although there is no SHS figure for the number of these households with a co-resident carer, we do know from other official statistics that, before benefits, something like 73% of those caring for 35+ hours a week have an annual income of less than £8,000. The Scottish figure, however, covers all households where care is needed, includes benefits, and suggests a possible greater spread of poverty associated with disability and illness.

Also, the prevalence of care need within poorer areas, while not unexpected, does focus attention on the interaction between care-giving and social inclusion. Caring in the context of socially deprived or excluded communities, in particular urban communities, has yet to be properly addressed in Scotland and the SHS figures offer an opportunity for closer examination.

Conclusion

The SHS figures only offer a very partial Scottish update on the earlier General Household figures. In particular, it is not possible to extrapolate an overall carer population figure for Scotland, which will, of course, be provided by the 2001 Census. What we can say, however, is that 12% of households have someone with care needs and that 96% of these households have someone providing that care (either as co-resident, extra-resident or both.). Therefore, something like one in nine households contains a carer, compared to the GHS figure of one in six.

In terms of policy, however, the lower household prevalence rate is less significant than the characteristics within household care situations. Issues of low income and unmet need and differences in terms of who is being care for should feature in the development of policy as should be targeting of resources on those at the heavy end of caring.

(published by Carers National Association Scotland, summer 2000)

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