Nearly one million more people will be unpaid carers by 2035, report finds

Nearly a million more people will have caring responsibilities by 2035, new research has revealed.

The Joseph Rowntree Foundation warns that the UK faces a “crisis of care” as people are getting older and living with illnesses for longer.

There will be an increased demand for care services which people can afford, as well as a growing reliance on unpaid carers.

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Around 990,000 more people are expected to be providing informal care within a decade. That’s equivalent to twice the population of Liverpool.

Almost four in 10 future carers will provide at least 10 hours of care each week, impacting around 400,000 people. Of these, 130,000 will be of working-age and may have to sacrifice full-time employment.

It is also likely that unmet care needs will continue to rise, as the proportion of over-65s in the population is growing faster than average.

Since 2016, only a fifth of over-65s in the UK who were being cared for relied solely on formal paid care. The remainder depended on informal, unpaid care or a combination of both.

Abby Jitendra, principal policy advisor for care, family and relationships at the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, said: “Our already strained paid care system is unfit to meet growing and changing care needs.

“A million more of us will be caring despite inadequate support which leaves unpaid carers at a higher risk of poverty.”

The Joseph Rowntree Foundation is calling for the government to establish a cross-government taskforce to establish a plan to meet the rising tide of care needs.

This would bring together ministers responsible for care, work, benefits and communities to improve paid care services while increasing support for informal carers such as through benefits and paid leave. 

Jitendra added: “This will give people real choice, as care needs grow, over how to meet theirs or their loved one’s care needs.”

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