Caring magazine 49 Caring July 2018 | Page 14

News & campaigns State of Caring Survey 2018 – what you told us Over 7000 of you shared your experiences of caring with us in this year’s survey. We are hugely grateful to each and every one of you that took the time to do this, enabling us to give the public, decision makers and the media an understanding of what it’s like to care for someone. carersuk.org/state ofcaring State of Carin g 2018 previous year. This could be because there had been a reduction in the amount of support from social services, a service they relied on closing without being replaced or an increase in costs. This was despite carers telling us that their needs had either stayed the same or increased. Carers report that they are struggling to manage financially, look after their own health and keep their careers. Almost 40% described their financial situation as ‘struggling to make ends meet’, while a further 20% said they are, or have been, in debt because of caring. We’ve published the headline results from what you told us which paint a worrying picture of families under immense strain and an underfunded social care system that is really taking its toll on families. Only one in ten feel confident that the support they receive and rely upon will continue and half of unpaid carers said they expect their quality of life to get worse in the next 12 months. Our research found that for one in seven carers (15%) received less support from care services during the 14 carersuk.org