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CHAPTER TWO: PATTERNS OF UNPAID CARE

2.1 This chapter examines the incidence and patterns of unpaid care in Scotland from 1999 to 2004. It provides a summary of care provision and examines variables most associated with likelihood of being a carer. Relationships between carers and those they care for and patterns of intensity are examined to provide a broad overview of patterns of care. Further details of the characteristics of carers are provided in Chapter Three.

2.2 As Table 2.1 shows, year on year, between 12% and 14% of all households in Scotland contain an adult who provides some kind of unpaid care to another person(s). This is more commonly someone outwith their household - around 9% provide care to someone outwith their household while around 4% provide care to someone within their household. Just under 1% of households contain an adult who provides care to someone within their household AND someone outwith their household.

Table 2.1: Households including an adult providing unpaid care either to someone within or outwith household (%)

2.3 In order to determine the most significant predictors of an adult being a carer, logistic regression was performed on the data. By using logistic regression, it is possible to determine which relationships and variables are significant when all possible relationships are considered and added to the regression. In this case, it allows us to predict group membership ( i.e. adult being a carer) from a set of demographic variables. Essentially, this allows us to predict which particular demographic characteristics are most associated with an adult being a carer. Table A1 in the appendix displays the full results of the regression analysis and Appendix 2 includes a description of the regression and includes a description of all the variables included in the analysis). Only those factors which were significant in predicting an adult being a carer are included.

2.4 The following variables were significant in predicting whether an adult was a carer: sex; age; marital status; household type; and household working status. To summarise, the analysis reveals that carers are more likely than non-carers to be:

• Female
• Aged over 35 years old
• Married
• Living in any household other than single adult households
• Live in non-working households (those living in working households were less likely to be carers).

2.5 Age emerged as a key predictor. Almost a third of all carers are aged 60 years or older. Therefore, age is used as a key analysis variable in the report in order to ensure that differences associated with caring rather than just with age are examined. It should be noted that in this section, younger carers and younger non-carers refers to adults aged 16 - 24 years old.

2.6 As can be seen from Table 2.2, a higher proportion of carers are female (between 60% and 63% from 1999 - 2004). Carers are also increasingly likely to be older individuals. In 1999, 25% of carers were aged over 60 years old compared with 30% in 2004. This may be partly explained by the wider demographic change of people living longer.

Table 2.2: Age and sex of carers (%)

2.7 Table 2.3 shows the most common relationships between carers and those they care for where both are in the same household (columns labeled 'care in home') and where they are in different households (columns labeled 'care outside home'). This table combines data from 2003 and 2004. The column displaying relationship reveals the relationship of the cared for person to the carer, thus 'son or daughter' represents the parent providing care to the son or daughter. Within the household, the majority of adults care for their spouse or partner (56%), while around a quarter care for parents (24%). Adults caring outside the household most commonly care for parents (61%), other relatives (22%), or friends or neighbours (14%).

Table 2.3: Most common relationships between care providers and recipients (%)

2.8 The relationships between the carer and the person they look after were investigated by sex of the carer (see Table 2.4). There were only differences in relation to those caring in the household. The results indicate that a higher proportion of male carers than females care for their spouse or partner (65% compared with 49%) whereas female carers were more likely than males to care for their parent (32% compared with 13%).

Table 2.4: Sex of carers providing care in the household by who they care for (%)

2.9 The Care 21 report highlighted the incidence and potential negative impact of providing intensive care (defined as caring in excess of 50 hours a week). Table 2.5 shows the number of hours provided by sole carers providing care in the household. Given the way the SHS data is collected, it is only possible to discuss caring intensity for sole carers in the household. This should be borne in mind when interpreting results.

2.10 The majority of adults who provide sole care in the household say they provide continuous care, and this proportion has increased from 61% of these carers in 1999 to 72% in 2004. Since the introduction of free personal care in 2002, this proportion has continued to rise. Similarly, the proportion of these carers providing less than 20 hours a week has decreased from 15% in 1999 to 10% in 2004. Taken together, these results indicate that levels of caring intensity are becoming greater among sole carers who care in the household.

Table 2.5: Intensity of care provided by sole carers in the household (%)

2.11 Table 2.6 shows the number of hours care provided by those providing care out of the household. The results show that the proportion of adults providing between 1 and 4 hours per week increased from 43% in 1999 to 49% in 2004. Thus, in contrast to sole carers providing care in the household, levels of caring intensity for those caring outwith the household appears to be decreasing slightly.

Table 2.6: Intensity of care provided by those providing care out of the household (%)

2.12 Whether or not adults are sole carers can have an impact on the extent to which they can maintain a work life balance. The SHS data does not enable identification of whether an adult is the sole carer for all caring relationships. However, of all adults providing care to another household member between 15% and 18% are the sole carer for that care recipient. (see Table 2.7).

Table 2.7: Proportion of carers that are sole carers (%)

2.13 Table 2.8 displays the relationship between sole carers and other carers in the household and the care recipient. The majority of sole carers who care in the household care for their spouse or partner (71%) compared with 39% of other carers in the household. Only 16% of sole carers care for parents (compared with 33% of other carers) while 10% of sole carers care for their children (compared with 21% of other carers).

Table 2.8: Most common relationships between sole care providers and other care providers in the household and recipients (%)

2.14 Levels of caring intensity provided by each age group were also investigated. Once again, it should be noted that this only refers to sole carers providing care in the household ¹⁰.

Figure 2.1: Caring intensity by age (%)
Base: 16-34 = 173; 35-44 = 215; 45-59 = 441; 60-74 = 587; 75 plus = 140

2.15 As can be seen from Figure 2.1 , the majority of carers in every age group say they provide continuous care. However, this was more common among younger and older carers, with the middle age group (those aged between 35 and 59 years old) less likely to provide continuous care ( i.e. 60% of those aged between 45 and 59 years old compared with 70% of those aged between 60 and 74 years old).

Key points

• Around one in eight of households in Scotland contain an adult who provides unpaid care.
• A higher proportion of carers are female (around 61%) and older individuals (around 27% aged 60 years and older).
• Carers are more likely than non-carers to be:
• • Female
  • Aged over 35 years old
  • Married
  • Live in non-working households (those living in working households were less likely to be carers).
• Those who provide care in the household most commonly care for their spouse or partner, whereas those who care outside the household most commonly care for parents.
• Caring intensity for sole carers providing care in the household has increased since 1999, with a higher proportion of these carers now providing continuous care.
• In contrast, the proportion of adults caring outwith the household who provide between 1 and 4 hours has increased since 1999.
• Around 16% of those who care in the household are sole carers, with the majority of these adults caring for their spouse or partner.

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