Why Should Policymakers Be Interested In Unpaid Care?

This Carers Week, George Appleton, Head of Policy at Care England, writes a blogreflecting on the importance of unpaid carers and why policymakers should be interested in unpaid care

Carers Week is an annual campaign to raise awareness of caring highlight the challenges unpaid carers face and recognise the contribution they make to families and communities throughout the UK

Care England a registered charity is the leading representative body for small medium and large providers in England Our aim is to create an environment in which care providers can continue to deliver and develop the high-quality care that communities require and deserve

As part of our work, it is vital to appreciate the role unpaid carers play in supporting the adult social care sector our workforce and the wider population

As many will appreciate the UK’s population is ageing

Understanding why our population is ageing and the consequential challenges this presents is critical for all those involved within the sector, ranging from national government to care providers themselves as it is essential for understanding what the future demand and supply of care services will need to look like

The primary driver of the challenges the sector currently faces is a result of increased demand for care

Demand is being driven by the increasing number of people living longer, as a result of improvements in life expectancy and reduced fertility rates ballooning the older age cohorts which is in turn driving up the total number of people with a physical disability and other vulnerable people who are more likely to require some form of care and support

Independent care providers face an unprecedented number of challenges ranging from financial pressures to recruitment and retention issues Although bodies such as Care England continue to play a vital role in creating visibility around these issues and striving to deliver tangible solutions to care providers to ensure they can provide quality and accessible care, the unpaid care sector plays a vital role in supporting the sustainability of the sector but the long-term sustainability of the unpaid care sector is also under pressure

From a demographic perspective fertility levels in the UK are decreasing meaning that those now in receipt of care typically have smaller families and therefore a smaller network of people to rely on to provide care In conjunction with this, there has also been an increase in childlessness Approximately, one in five British women currently reach age 45 with no biological children again reducing the immediate network of people able to provide care

However the reduction in fertility doesn’t necessarily mean a reduction in support for those in old age

The improvements in old age mortality mean that increased survival of spouses and siblings has actually added to the support networks of older people Research indicates that a married older person has a significantly lower risk of being admitted into a residential or nursing home as spousal support is the first source of caregiving

This picture is complicated by the changes in family structures and relationships For example the number of divorces in England and Wales saw its largest percentage increase in nearly 50 years in 2019 Evidence suggests that widowed divorced and never married adults have a high risk of long-term care admission It is also now uncommon to live with multiple generations of a family in the same household In the context of old age support, in the 19th century, there were a high number of older individuals living with a child compared to a relatively low number now

As a final complexity, one of the most consistent findings across research is that women provide more family care than men; female caregivers provide more hours of care and are more likely to provide personal assistance Given the continuing rise of female participation in the labour market, this has naturally produced concerns about the number of people available to provide family support

The issues represent a small but illustrative picture of how complex workforce demographics are As we celebrate Carers Week this year it is incumbent on policymakers to recognise the vital role unpaid carers play in the lives of millions of people every day but also their vital contribution to helping support the care sector more broadly Without central aid to the unpaid care sector, the issues the adult social care sector, as a whole faces will only be exacerbated

Care England will continue to work with the government and wider national stakeholders to tackle the issues currently within the adult social care sector and want to work with all system partners to get it right for all