To ask the Scottish Government what information it holds on how many carers' breaks have been delivered in each local authority area since the Carers (Scotland) Act 2016 came into force.
The number of unpaid carers who receive short breaks or respite is reported in the Scottish Government’s Carers Census. This collection covers unpaid carers of all ages who have a support plan and/or those receiving support from local services, rather than the total caring population.
Information from the Carers Census is collected on a local level, however local-level figures are not published as, despite the increase in the number of organisations returning data, coverage remains incomplete across Scotland. Differences in local carer support arrangements and recording practices also mean the data is not sufficiently robust to allow direct local comparisons.
National-level data is reported in the Carers Census publications, however the results likely represent an undercount of the true number of unpaid carers being supported by local services in Scotland, given that not all organisations are able to provide submissions, and there is no non-response estimation. This is noted within the publications, where figures are framed as representing carers included in the Carers Census from submitting data providers, as opposed to being estimated Scotland-level totals.
Table 1: Number and percentage of people who received short breaks or respite in 2019-20 to 2023-24 (all areas submitted) (Source: Carers Census, Scottish Government)
Year | Number of people that received short breaks or respite | Percentage of people who received support that received short breaks or respite |
2019-20 | 4,450 | 29% |
2020-21 | 5,360 | 29% |
2021-22 | 11,570 | 37% |
2022-23 | 9,120 | 40% |
2023-24 | 11,100 | 40% |
Notes: data from the initial 2018-19 Carers Census is not included as it is not comparable to subsequent years.
Data for 2019-20 and 2020-21 were collected at the same time due to the Covid-19 pandemic, and changes between 2022-23 and 2023-24 are likely to be more reflective of the greater completeness and improved data quality in 2023-24 rather than actual change in provision.
Table 2: Percentage of people who were assessed as needing, and assessed as needing and were eligible for, a short break or respite that received one, 2019-20 to 2023-24 (Source: Carers Census, Scottish Government)
Year | Percentage of people who were assessed as needing a short break or respite that received one, regardless of eligibility | Percentage of people who were assessed as needing, and were eligible for, a short break or respite that received one |
2019-20 | 86% | 88% |
2020-21 | 83% | 86% |
2021-22 | 76% | 79% |
2022-23 | 89% | 90% |
2023-24 | 91% | 92% |
Notes:
1. Data for 2018-19 is not included as it is not comparable to subsequent years.
2. These proportions are not based on the figures shown in Table 1, as those figures relate to all carers recorded as receiving a short break or respite, rather than only those with recorded needs and eligibility.
Unpaid carers are considered to be eligible to receive a short break if they are a) assessed as needing one and b) meet local eligibility criteria. However, many carer centres do not operate using eligibility criteria and will provide the support needed to the carers that they are in contact with. As such, information on whether a carer is eligible for support is poorly returned in the Carers Census. In 2023-24, information on eligibility was missing for almost 60% of records.
In addition, there were a number of carers in the Carers Census data who were recorded as receiving a short break or respite but who weren’t recorded as needing one. This could be due to a number of reasons such as differences in data recording or changes in the carers’ circumstances.
