Unpaid care, Census 2021

Introduction

This article uses statistics that were published as part of the Phase 1 - Census 2021 topic summaries. These are estimates based on information submitted by householders and other respondents on Census Day 2021, which was on 21st March. More detailed tables have been derived from the ONS Create a custom datasets for Unpaid care and hours worked and Unpaid care, age and sex

Key points

• 9.6% (112,737) of the Lancashire-12 area's residents aged 5 or over provided some unpaid care (England = 8.8%)
• 9.2% (13,279) of Blackburn with Darwen and 10.9% (14,613) of Blackpool's populations provided some unpaid care
• Ribble Valley is the only authority in the Lancashire-14 area to have a lower population percentage providing some unpaid care (8.5%) than England when using the age-standardised proportions
• At all geographical levels a higher proportion provide 50 or more hours of unpaid care than 20-49 hours
• Provision of 50 or more hours of unpaid care ranged from 3.9% of the population of Blackpool down to 2% in Ribble Valley
• Most unpaid carers were female, 58.5% in the Lancashire-12 area
• The proportion of unpaid carers aged 65 or over was highest for 50 or more hours provided and least for 20-49 hours provided
• In all cases most care was provided by people aged 16 to 64
• In 2021 the value of unpaid care in the Lancashire-12 area stood at £3.7 billion

The population included in this topic is usual residents aged 5 or over, rather than the more common 16 and over or all ages. The wording of the census question was slightly different to the 2011 version, but did not effectively alter the scope of where or to whom care was being provided.

In Census 2021 ONS has made an age-standardised proportions version of the unpaid care statistics available. This make comparisons between geographical areas and different points in time more reliable.

See the ONS web pages showing changes 2011 to 2021. This is for lower tier local authorities, counties are not included. Our 2011 Census article on unpaid care can be found here. ONS suggest that the rules on household mixing during the Covid-19 pandemic may have affected the actual outcomes or the responses.

Interactive report

In the table that shows age-standardised proportions, the values can be sorted by clicking the column headers. In the ward maps a pie chart showing all values for a particular ward can be revealed by moving the cursor over the wards in the map. By default the chart includes the 'Provides no unpaid care' category, which accounts for around 90% of most populations. The percentages shown are automatically calculated in the report, rather than being those published by ONS. We have included an additional 'Hours of care' filter on the right of the map. The reason is to allow the 'Provides no unpaid care' category to be removed from the charts. Depending on your device, this can be done by opening up the list in the filter and unticking (Ctrl + clicking) that category at the foot of the list, or by selecting all of the other detailed ranges of hours. The broader ranges (0-19, 20-49 hours) are not included in this map tool. The percentages then shown will be calculated only from the population which is providing unpaid care.

The complex charts are based on more detailed figures sourced from the ONS custom table builder.

There is a breakdown by hours worked. This is hours worked by the carer in their normal employment. We would expect an inverse relationship between the number of hours of care provided and hours worked. Indeed there is a greater proportion of people who do not work providing the most hours of care than in the categories with fewer hours of care and the people working 50 hours or more usually have the lowest proportion providing over 50 hours of care, but there are a few. There are generally more people working a standard week than part-time workers providing care. This may reflect full time jobs being much more prevalent than part time in general but possibly also that carers are not being obliged to reduce their hours of work in order to fit in more hours of care. The PSS SACE (Personal Social Services Survey of Adult Carers in England, 2023-24) has slightly different findings. 10.9% of respondents to the survey were in full-time work compared to 15.7% in part-time work. The SACE survey does not include providers of care to under 18 year olds, but this may not necessarily be the cause of the discrepancy. Additionally 14.5% of carers in the Lancashire-12 area stated that they were not in paid employment because of their caring responsibilities.

Chart 4 shows the breakdown by age and sex. In general most carers are women (58.5%) in Lancashire-12 and of working age (16 to 64) though in Hyndburn and Blackburn with Darwen there are more males than females aged 65 and over who provide 50 or more hours of unpaid care. Males pre-dominate among the under-16s who provide 50 or more hours of care. We see how the proportion of unpaid carers aged 65 was highest for 50 or more hours provided and least for 20-49 hours provided. At most geographical levels the percentage of carers who are female is in the 57-60% range. In Wyre it is 57.4% and in Rossendale 60.7%. The England value is 59.2%. This proportion does not vary much over time. Back in 2001 the Lancashire value was 57.6% and England's 57.8%.

Chart 5 show the change from 2011 to 2021.  This is sourced from a report on the value of unpaid care published by Carers UK. The figures in this chart are rounded to the nearest 5. Despite the population rising in all areas between 2011 and 2021 we see the number of unpaid carers falling substantially. The Census in 2021 was taken when covid-19 lockdown restrictions were still in effect and as the care is not necessarily carried out in the carer's own residence some people may have been forced to suspend care provided to friends or relatives living elsewhere, or maybe they just did not record it on the census form. In 2021 the age base for this topic was changed to 5 and over, making it hard to calculate an exact comparable rate for the 2011 figures. From the 2001 census we can see that there were very few under-5s providing unpaid care (120 persons in the Lancashire-12 area), and not for many hours, so it makes sense to use the 5 year and over population as the denominator for 2011 but use the total unpaid care figure as the numerator. This indicates almost no change between 2001 and 2011 for the proportion of the 5 year and over population providing some unpaid care (12.2% to 12.1% in the Lancashire-12 area) but a noticeable drop in 2021 to 9.6%.

Chart 6 uses the same report and shows how, despite the fall in numbers of carers, the value provided by unpaid carers rose substantially between the census years. In 2021 the value of unpaid care in the Lancashire-12 area stood at £3.7 billion. To put this in context we could perhaps contrast the 112,737 unpaid carers with the 10,437 paid workers in residential care activities and the 26,855 paid workers engaged in social work activities shown in the 'employment by industry sector' article.

If this report is viewed on a touch-screen device such as a mobile phone the functionality of the complex charts and ward map will not be available. Please use the alternative version, which presents the detailed data using the drill-through technique.

Source: NOMIS: Census 2021: Table c2021ts039 Provision of unpaid care, Census 2021: Table c2021ts039ASP Provision of unpaid care - Age-standardised proportions ONS Create a custom datasets for Unpaid care and hours worked and Unpaid care, age and sex Carers UK: Valuing carers 2021

After the ending of the lockdown provision of unpaid care outside of the home may have risen again. The personal social services survey on adult care in England for 2023/24 shows that over 30% of carers in the Lancashire-12 area provide that care away from home. This is greater than England (23.3%), Blackpool (23.4%) and Blackburn with Darwen (19.8%). The equivalent figure for the Lancashire-12 area from the 2021/22 survey was 26.8%. This could equate to over 4 thousand carers who stopped providing care during the lockdown.

Page last revised August 2024