Unpaid adult and young carers in Staffordshire

Caring responsibilities will affect most people. The caring relationship can be with anyone - a partner, parent, sibling, child, grandchild, neighbour, or friend and may change over time. Carers may support one person for a long period or several people at different times.

The 2021 Census reported that:

• Nearly 10% (82,000) of Staffordshire residents aged over 5 provide some unpaid care each week.
• 66% of carers are aged over 50, and 58% of carers are women.
• There are 1,610 young carers aged 5 – 17.
• Caring for others is part of our responsibilities to one another as citizens and can be extremely rewarding. National estimates from Carers UK place the total value of the unpaid work of carers in Staffordshire in 2021 at £2.6bn per annum.

However caring can have a significant personal and financial costs with carers more likely to experience health and financial inequalities:

• Carers are twice as likely to suffer from poor health compared to the general population mainly due to lack of information and support, finance concerns, stress and social isolation.
• 1 in 3 young carers have a mental health issue.
• The caring role limits carers' ability to undertake paid work; Carers UK estimate that 1 in 6 carers stop working or reduce their hours due to their caring role.
• Carers under retirement age providing over 20 hours care per week are more likely to be living in lower-income households, compared with non-carers or carers providing less hours.
• Carers also have more outgoings related to their caring role such as caring equipment or higher fuel costs.
• 38% of young carers we spoke to told us they struggle to balance their caring role with going to school.