§ Sandra GidleyTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate he has made of the number of people providing unpaid care to people aged 65 and over. [158054]
§ Ruth KellyThe information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician, who has been asked to reply.
1220WLetter from John Pullinger to Sandra Gidley, dated 5 March 2004:
The National Statistician has been asked to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question about the estimate of the number of people providing unpaid care to people aged 65 and over. I am replying in his absence. (158054)
The General Household Survey (GHS), carried out by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) asked a module of questions on care-giving in 2000 (the most recent year available). The GHS 2000 "Carers" report, showed that around 11% of adults in Great Britain (representing 4.7 million people) were caring for someone aged 65 and over. These estimates have been obtained by weighting the survey results to the relevant population estimates. As with any statistical sample survey, estimates from the GHS are subject to sampling variability.
In 2000 as in previous years, 'carers' were defined as people who were looking after, or providing some regular service for, a sick, disabled or elderly person living in their own or another household. Certain types of caring have been excluded: caring for someone in the capacity of volunteer for a charity or other organisation, caring for someone receiving care in an institution, providing financial support only, and caring for someone with a temporary illness or disability (as defined by the respondent). It is not possible to identify from this data source whether carers were paid or unpaid.
The 2001 Census asked a question about whether people provided unpaid care for a family member or friend, and for how many hours. Around 5.2 million people in England and Wales reported that they were providing unpaid care for a family member or friend, including over a million providing more than 50 hours a week. Around 950,000 people aged 65 and over provided care of this sort, including around 340,000 providing more than 50 hours a week. The Census did not collect information on the ages of those to whom care was given.
Further information on carers from the 2001 Census and other sources is available on the National Statistics website at http://www.statistics.gov.uk/cci/nscl.asp?id = 8467