Javiera Cartagena-Farias and Nicola Brimblecombe
Unpaid care is the most common source of care provided and received by people with long-term conditions (e.g. those with learning and/or physical disabilities, sensory impairments, mental health issues, and older people). From a government spending perspective, this is often seen as positive, as it reduces how much government needs to spend on social care services and support. Nevertheless, this does not take into account the hidden costs associated with the provision of care. For instance, what the government needs to pay in welfare benefits to carers. Carers leaving employment or reducing their work hours will also pay less tax, and there are costs of health services due to the impact of caring on carer’s physical and mental health, particularly when they provide many hours of care. Evidently, providing unpaid care is not actually cost-free to the government.
There is, however, not much research on the relationship between unpaid caregiving and the amount of money spent by the government in the UK, and on how spending varies among carers. This information is needed in order to identify sub-groups of carers where the government has higher costs and therefore may need more support.
Our study looked at the cost to the government of care provision across older (aged 65+) and younger (aged 16-64) unpaid carers, as well as across carers providing care of less than 10 hours per week and of 10 or more hours a week. It also explored the differences between costs across unpaid carers living in the same household as the person with care needs and those not living in the same household. The study used the UK Household Longitudinal Study (UKHLS), a nationally representative survey collected over several years. Outcomes were measured in 2019/2020 and include total costs to the government, healthcare costs, amount of tax paid or not paid, and welfare benefits for the whole UK population.
The researchers found that providing care is associated with additional and potentially avoidable costs to government (between £6 to £21 billion per year). Providing care for ten hours or more a week was associated with higher costs to government. Older carers had lower healthcare costs. This may be because younger carers had worse mental health and/or because older people have more difficulties in accessing healthcare services. Older carers also had lower welfare benefit costs compared to younger carers. While it is difficult in our study to know the exact reasons for these lower costs, there is some evidence that older people may be unaware of the type of welfare support available to them or may believe that they are not entitled to receive any support. They may not claim because the application process is too complicated and time-consuming. Pride and stigma also limit the extent to which older people ask for help. In this regard, recent official statistics have shown that almost a million pensioner households are entitled to Pension Credit benefits, but not claiming them (DWP, 2020).
This research contributes original insights into the public finance costs of unpaid care, the need for tailored and effective support for different groups of carers, and the need to reduce barriers for carers so they can gain the support that they need. Our findings also suggest that some costs to the government are not necessarily negative, but they may indicate the inability to access timely and appropriate support. The research team are discussing the findings with policymakers and carers, and aim to share findings with carer organisations, social care professionals, and online.
