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