New figures reveal 'staggering value' of unpaid carers in Ayrshire as charity calls for more support

The labour that unpaid carers in Ayrshire provide saves the economy more than £1.2 billion.

A new report by Carers Scotland entitled Valuing Carers: 2022, Scotland has laid bare the “staggering value” of carers across the county.

Across Ayrshire, there are 46,330 unpaid carers who provide care and support to family members, friends and neighbours.

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Carers Scotland say the research, which analyses statistics from Scotland’s Census 2022, demonstrates the significant contribution that carers currently make and what it would cost the state to replace the care they provide.

The report was launched today (Thursday, November 21), which is Carers Rights Day – an annual day for raising awareness about carers and the rights they have, so they can access the support they are entitled to and the recognition they deserve.

North Ayrshire has the highest number of carers in the county at 17,223 - an increase of 23.9 per cent since 2011.

The research estimates that the value of unpaid carers in North Ayrshire was £474.2 million.

In East Ayrshire, there were 15,485 unpaid carers - an increase of 22.7 per cent since 2011 - and the research estimated the value of their care and support at £423.4 million.

South Ayrshire had the lowest number of unpaid carers in the county at 13,622 - up 16.3 per cent - but the research still estimated that their care and support was worth £352 million.

Across Scotland, the report estimates the value of unpaid carers at £15.9 billion which reflected the trend that the number of unpaid carers is growing and an increase in the intensity of the care they provide.

The report makes a range of recommendations to better support unpaid carers including the “critical need” for the Scottish Government to provide increased investment in social care and breaks from caring, to improve financial support for unpaid carers and deliver a new duty on health services to identify and promote carers’ health and wellbeing.

Richard Meade, director of Carers Scotland said: “Unpaid carers are the backbone of our health and social care system and without them the system would simply collapse. £15.9bn in equivalent support every year is staggering.

“We must do so much more to support unpaid carers as they provide this care, as well as treating them with the dignity and respect they deserve, and truly valuing them for what they do.

“The reality is that, despite this enormous contribution, too many unpaid carers face a cost to their financial security, health and career. Asking unpaid carers to make such a significant contribution to our society without providing the right support to help them in their caring role is both unjust and unfair.

“We must do much more to support our unpaid carers to ensure they have a good quality of life alongside their caring role.

“Unpaid carers need more support from social services, including to ensure they get a break from caring, greater financial support and provisions to enable them to stay in paid employment alongside their caring role if they wish - and they need help from our NHS to protect and improve their health and wellbeing.”

Leading the research, Professor Matt Bennett, Centre for Care at the University of Birmingham, said: “Our research shows the growing economic value of unpaid care in Scotland, which has reached an astonishing £15.9 billion.

“To put this in context, the NHS budget for Scotland in 2022/2023 was £17.8 billion. The value of unpaid care was also approximately four times higher than the expenditure on adult social services in Scotland that year.

“The economic contribution made by unpaid carers has increased by 19.4 per cent in the last decade and paints a stark picture of the savings they make to health care budgets. Without unpaid carers, our health and social care systems would collapse.

“In fact, our work not only shows that the number of carers has increased, but that they are also providing more hours of unpaid care than ever before. We hope policy makers see the urgent need to act to support unpaid carers.”

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