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Publication, Part of

Personal Social Services Survey of Adult Carers in England, 2014-15

Official statistics, Survey
Publication Date:
Geographic Coverage:
England
Geographical Granularity:
Country, Regions, Councils with Adult Social Services Responsibilities (CASSRs), Local Authorities
Date Range:
Snapshot on 16 Sep 2015

Summary

Please note that this report was updated on 24 September 2015 to make a correction to the wording of footnote 8 (page 9). This had previously stated that those carers in receipt of self-directed support services are likely to have been assessed as having higher support needs than those in receipt of other support services; it should have stated that those carers in receipt of support services are likely to have been assessed as having higher support needs than those who do not receive support services.

The resource 'CSV guidance and data dictionary' has also been updated to provide clarification that where a record for a respondent has blank values for a given question, this is because no valid response was provided for that question.

Note that no data or results in either the report or the CSV file have changed.

Users of the report should ensure that they are using the current version, 1.1. The HSCIC apologises for this error and any associated inconvenience.

The Personal Social Services Survey of Adult Carers in England is a biennial survey that took place for the second time in 2014-15. The survey covers informal, unpaid carers aged 18 or over, caring for a person aged 18 or over, where the carer has been assessed or reviewed, either separately or jointly with the cared-for person, by social services during the 12 months prior to the sample being identified. Carers were sent questionnaires, issued by Councils with Adult Social Services Responsibilities (CASSRs), in the period October to November 2014, to seek their opinions on a number of topics that are considered to be indicative of a balanced life alongside their caring role. Further information about the survey, including the methodology, can be found in the 'Methodology and Further Information' document in the Resources section of this page.

National-level information is provided in this report. Annex files containing further national-level data, and data for all CASSRs in England, and the data used to produce this report (as a CSV file) are available in the Resources section below.

A weighting methodology has been introduced for the 2014-15 survey. Although the impact of this change is small, in order to be able to make direct comparisons over time, the results from the 2012-13 survey have been recalculated using this new methodology, and any comparisons made to 2012-13 data in this report refer to these re-calculated figures. Consequently, 2012-13 figures presented in this report may not be an exact match to those in the original, experimental statistics release for 2012-13. The full set of recalculated results for 2012-13 are available in an annex table. The time series annex presents 2012-13 results calculated using the new weighting methodology. Further details about the new weighting methodology and other changes to the survey as compared to 2012-13 are available in the methodological change notice for this report, which is available via the Related Links section of this page.

Findings from the survey are used to populate a number of measures in the Adult Social Care Outcomes Framework (ASCOF); these outcome scores will be published as part of the full suite of ASCOF outcomes on 6 October.

CASSRs reported that 286,910 carers were assessed or reviewed in the 12 months prior to the 2014-15 survey. 57,380 out of a sample of 131,105 carers responded to the survey, which is a response rate of 44 per cent (down two percentage points from 2012-13).

Highlights

When asked to rate their satisfaction with support and services received in the last twelve months, 15 per cent of respondents reported that they were extremely satisfied, 26 per cent reported that they were very satisfied, and 33 per cent reported that they were quite satisfied. This compares to 16, 27, and 34 per cent in 2012-13.

38 per cent of respondents reported that they spend 100 hours or more per week looking after or helping the person they care for, up from 36 per cent in 2012-13.

When asked to consider how they spend their time, 20 per cent of carers reported being able to 'spend my time as I want, doing things I value or enjoy', down from 22 per cent in 2012-13. 15 per cent reported that 'I don't do anything I value or enjoy with my time', up from 14 per cent in 2012-13. The remaining 65 per cent reported that 'I do some of the things I value or enjoy with my time but not enough', which is unchanged from 2012-13.

When asked to consider how much control they have over their daily life, 27 per cent of respondents reported that 'I have as much control over my daily life as I want', down from 29 per cent in 2012-13. 13 per cent reported that 'I have no control over my daily life', up from 12 per cent in 2012-13. The remaining 61 per cent reported that 'I have some control over my daily life, but not enough', up from 59 per cent in 2012-13.

When considering how much time they have to look after themselves, in terms of getting enough sleep or eating well, 58 per cent of respondents reported that they look after themselves, down from 60 per cent in 2012-13. 15 per cent of respondents reported that they feel they are neglecting themselves, up from 14 per cent in 2012-13. 28 per cent of respondents reported that 'sometimes I can't look after myself well enough', up from 26 per cent in 2012-13.

When asked to consider the encouragement and support they receive in regard to their caring role, 40 per cent of respondents reported that 'I feel I have encouragement and support', down from 43 per cent in 2012-13. 43 per cent reported that 'I feel I have some encouragement and support, but not enough', up from 40 per cent in 2012-13. 17 per cent reported that 'I feel I have no encouragement and support', compared to 16 per cent in 2012-13.

Resources

Related Links

Last edited: 17 September 2020 9:53 am