On this third day of National Family Week, Relationships Foundation is highlighting the implications of family breakdown for the future care of vulnerable and elderly people.
There are currently around 1.2 million older people who receive care from the state, but, as Age UK has recently reported, there are a further 800,000 who need, but do not receive, care. This is set to rise as our older population grows.
Often this need is met by families. In the UK, we spend an average of 11 hours a week caring for elderly or disabled relatives: this is above the European average of 9 hours a week. France, Lithuania, Hungary, Austria, Belgium, Sweden, Norway, and Finland all average below 7 hours a week: Finland is the lowest at 4 ½ hours a week.
But the OECD has recently pointed out that the high rate of family breakdown in the UK imperils this care. Edward Whitehouse, the OECD’s head of pensions policy analysis, has said that smaller and more complex families meant there would be fewer people to provide “informal care” to frail relatives in future. He pointed out that more than 12% of British children live in step families, compared with an OECD average of 8%, and there are more single parents.
The OECD report also questioned the sustainability of informal care. “Countries which want to maintain or increase reliance on family carers will need to alleviate the burden of family carers and reduce the economic costs associated with caring responsibilities.”
• A survey of 3,500 carers undertaken by the Princess Royal Trust for Carers in 2007 found that one of the most difficult challenges carers have to cope with is the impact on their relationships. Two thirds (66%) of those surveyed said their relationships had suffered as a result of their caring responsibilities. These effects are both emotional and physical, with six in ten reporting that they had little quality time with their partners and a similar number saying that their sex lives had taken a back seat directly as a result of their caring role. When carers did get time to relax, more than a fifth used it to catch up on their sleep.
• Care responsibilities also add financial pressures: the same survey found that more than two thirds (67%) said they were financially worse off as a result of caring. Part of this was because carers face reduced promotion and training prospects, and therefore could not focus on their career (according to 57% of those questioned).
The Government is due to receive proposals for the future of Social Care from the Dilnot Commission at the beginning of July this year.
Commenting, Michael Trend, Executive Director of the Relationships Foundation, said:
“Successive Governments have been caught like rabbits in the headlights when faced with the demographic time-bomb of our aging population.”
“It is well known that they have depended on a volunteer carer workforce of sons and daughters. But the government has failed to take seriously the impact of family breakdown on this workforce.”
“A joined-up family policy is not just motherhood and apple pie, it is about heading off the, literally taxing, challenges of the future. The Dilnot Commission must take note of this in its report.”
Notes to Editors
• The European Average is 9.4 hours (9 hours excluding Ireland).
• The figures are part of Relationships Foundation’s Pressure Gauge
• Age UK published Care in Crisis on 30th May 2011, which highlighted the numbers of people not receiving the care they need.
• Over the last 25 years the percentage of the population aged 65 and over increased from 15 per cent in 1983 to 16 per cent in 2008, an increase of 1.5 million people in this age group. Over the same period, the percentage of the population aged 16 and under decreased from 21 per cent to 19 per cent. This trend is projected to continue. By 2033, 23 per cent of the population will be aged 65 and over compared to 18 per cent aged 16 or younger.
• The fastest population increase has been in the number of those aged 85 and over, the ’oldest old‘. In 1983, there were just over 600,000 people in the UK aged 85 and over. Since then the numbers have more than doubled reaching 1.3 million in 2008. By 2033 the number of people aged 85 and over is projected to more than double again to reach 3.2 million, and to account for 5 per cent of the total population (ONS).
• The pressure on relatives is increasing as councils cut back on the care they are providing. ADASS recently reported that now just 26 out of 148 councils are funding people in “moderate” or “low” need, down from 41 last year.
• The OECD report is available here (requires subscription). Edward Whitehouse’s comments were reported in the Telegraph.
• The Princess Royal Trust for Carers research can be found here.
• Contact a Family has highlighted the pressure on families with disabled children. There are 770,000 disabled children in the UK: 99% live at home and are supported by their families.
o These families are at greater risk of financial pressure. The income of families with disabled children averages £15,270, 23.5% below the UK mean income of £19,968, and 21.8% have incomes that are less than half the UK mean, and half the families are at risk of experiencing poverty.
o They are also at risk of relationship pressure. According to one study, 31% of couples report some problems, 13% cite major problems and 9% actually separate. Stress, depression and lack of sleep are other commonly experienced problems.