Number of full-time unpaid carers in Britain soars by 70%: 'Millions of us are carers or need care'

The number of full-time unpaid carers has soared by 70% in two decades, a new report has found, as “rising demand and shrinking supply” pushes England’s social care system to breaking point.

The number of people providing 35 hours or more a week of care increased from 1.1 million in 2003/04 to 1.9 million in 2023/24, a new Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) paper shows.

Meanwhile, demand for care has surged – mostly from working age adults. There were 1.8 million requests for support in 2015/16, compared to 2.1 million in 2023/24. Requests from those aged 16-64 grew by 31.5%, compared to a 9% increase from those aged 65 and over.

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The research – carried out by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation on behalf of IPPR – reveals a “nation of carers”, says Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey. Davey is himself a carer – as a teenager he looked after his mother after her bone cancer diagnosis, and he currently looks after his disabled son John. 

“Most care happens not in care homes but in people’s homes; provided not by paid care staff but by family members and other loved ones,” Davey said. “Parents and grandparents, husbands and wives, siblings and children. We don’t talk about it much, but we are a nation of carers. 

“So the answers to the care crisis can’t just be about tinkering with the formal systems of childcare and social care as they exist today. We need to take a step back as a country and ask some more fundamental questions about how we can better support families.”

Despite the increase in need for care, the amount of people receiving care has not increased proportionally. New findings highlight a 15% rise in people requesting some form of adult social care has only been met, with a 2.5% increase in those receiving it.

Other research reflects the same bleak reality: the burden of care is getting heavier. Earlier this year, the newly launched Unpaid Care Dashboard revealed the proportion of unpaid carers delivering more than 50 hours a week has grown from 24% to 30%.

The estimated value of unpaid care across England and Wales has increased by 29% in ten years, reaching about £162 billion annually – almost the cost of running a second NHS.

Unpaid carers are left to struggle without support.  

“Millions of us are carers or need care, and this number will surge in the future,” said Abby Jitendra, author of the IPPR discussion paper and principal policy adviser at JRF.

“But families are being left to navigate a neglected system – paying sky-high costs, sacrificing work to care, and too often going without the support they need. We need to build a care system that works like a public service: universal, affordable, reliable and fair. That means bold reform now – not another decade of drift.” 

The new report calls on the government to provide unpaid carers with care leave, workplace rights and income protection through a National Care Service (NCS). This is a proposed reform to create a universal, publicly-funded system for social care in England, like the NHS. 

It could be “transformative”, said Dr Parth Patel, associate director at IPPR.

“We all want and need more care in our lives – yet there are fewer people to provide it. Who will care is one of the great challenges of our age. This is not just a question of tax and spend, but of dignity and mutual obligation. 

“Each of us has a duty to care – for our children, our parents and our neighbours. Most of us actually find it rewarding, and would do more of it if only we had the time. 

“That is what a National Care Service must recognise and support: helping us look after one another.”

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