Prepared to Care? Exploring the impact of caring on people’s lives

Every day in the UK 6,000 people take on new caring responsibilities. This often comes at a price as carers find their lives change in so many ways. Caring has an impact on relationships, careers, finances and a person’s health and well-being both positively and negatively. When someone becomes a carer it can happen suddenly or build gradually over time and many people do not recognise the changes it is having on their life. Added to this, carers also talk about how they struggle to readjust when their caring role ends or changes, especially if they have put their career on hold, lost touch with friends or seen their personal finances reduced.

The impact that caring has on people’s lives is a serious concern. The number of people now looking after a family member or friend who is ill, frail or disabled has risen by 11 per cent in the last 10 years. There are now 6.5 million carers in the UK - predicted to reach nine million by 2037.

In preparation for this year’s Carers Week, a group of charities4 set out to explore how much, as society, we are Prepared to Care? Through an online survey, the UK’s carers were asked to share the impact that caring had had on their lives and their experiences of gaining support from professionals and services. The following report, Prepared to Care? Exploring the impact of caring on people’s lives, shares the personal accounts of carers as they discuss the realities of caring for a family member or friend.

The Carers Week partnership would like to thank the 2,115 carers who took the time to complete the survey. Your contributions are invaluable in supporting the work of Carers Week and guiding its activities for the campaign in 2013 and in the future.