FOI REF: FOI/2023/4860
You asked
Please could you let me know the latest figures and statistics for the number of officially registered unpaid carers within the United Kingdom.
We said
Thank you for your freedom of information request.
We do not hold an official number of unpaid carers as they are unregistered.
Census 2021 asked "Do you look after, or give any help or support to, anyone because they have long-term physical or mental health conditions or illnesses, or problems related to old age?". People were asked to exclude anything they did as part of their paid employment.
On the 19 January 2023, we released 'Unpaid care, England and Wales: Census 2021'. This release provides the number of usual residents aged 5 years and over who provide unpaid care, and how many hours they provide in a typical week: https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/healthandsocialcare/healthandwellbeing/bulletins/unpaidcareenglandandwales/census2021
The UK censuses are run separately by each National Statistics Office (Northern Ireland Statistics & Research Agency (NISRA), National Records of Scotland (NRS), and the Office for National Statistics (ONS) for both England and Wales). Some questions asked are not the same across the three statistics offices.
Northern Ireland's census was taken in 2021 and you can access their census data here: https://www.nisra.gov.uk/statistics/2021-census/results
Scotland's census was moved to 2022 so there may not be data available yet. Please see their website for information: https://www.scotlandscensus.gov.uk/
The publication of UK Census 2021 and 2022 outputs is dependent on the availability of Scotland's Census 2022 data.
Contact details for NRS and NISRA are provided below:
National Records of Scotland (NRS)
Tel: 0131 3144299
Email: statisticscustomerservices@nrscotland.gov.uk
Website: www.nrscotland.gov.uk
Northern Ireland Statistics & Research Agency (NISRA)
Tel: 02890 255156
Email: census@nisra.gov.uk
Website: http://www.nisra.gov.uk/census