What the Data Tells us About Carers

2. What the Data Tells us About Carers

The Tasmanian Caring Experience

In 2018, the Australian Bureau of Statistics reported that there were 80 100 carers in Tasmania. This represents 15.5 per cent of the Tasmanian population and is the highest per capita rate of carers in all the states and territories.

It should also be noted that the ABS used a slightly different definition of ‘carer’ in its survey:

A carer is defined as a person who  provides any informal assistance, in terms of help or supervision, to people  with disability or older people (aged 65 years and over). Assistance must be  ongoing, or likely to be ongoing, for at least six months.

As reported nationally, females were more likely to be carers (15.8 per cent of all females) than males (14.8 per cent of all  males).

Although the average age of Tasmanian carers is 52.5  (51.9 female and 53.4 male), 11.6 per cent (9 300) are under the age of 25, while 28 per cent of Tasmanian carers are 65 years or older.

While using a different definition of ‘young  carer’ to the ABS of (under 25 years of age); Carers  Tasmania estimates that the number of young carers of school age could be as  high as one in every 15 students in Tasmania.

The rate of Tasmanian carers with disability (43.7  per cent) is 11.6 per cent higher than reported nationally (32.1 per cent). The  non-carer population reported 22.9 per cent of Tasmanians with disability, which is also higher (7.3 per cent) than the national figure of 15.3 per cent.

The report also found that 46 per cent of Tasmanian  carers are employed (either part-time or full-time) compared to 61.4 per cent  of non-carers, noting 21 per cent of Tasmanian carers are of prime working age (25 to 44 years old).

On average, Tasmanian carers earn approximately $190  less per week than their non-carer counterparts (carers median gross income per week $520, non-carers $710) and have a lower labour force participation rate (49.4 per cent) than people who are not carers (64.6 per cent).

Consistent with the national data from the 2018  survey, nearly half of all carers (47.9 per cent) live in households that fall  into the lowest two tiers of average gross income. This proportion is almost  twice that of non-carers (26.4 per cent).

The Value of Informal Care in 2020

Carers Australia commissioned Deloitte Access Economics to undertake research on the Value of Informal Care in 2020. The study estimates that in 2020 there were almost 2.8 million informal  carers in Australia, comprised of 906 000 primary carers and 1.9 million  non-primary carers. This represents a 5.5 per cent increase since the ABS 2018 Survey on Disability, Ageing and Carers survey  due to population growth.

The research estimates that the demand for informal  carers will grow from around 1.25 million in 2020 to 1.54 million in 2030, representing a 23 per cent increase.

In contrast, the supply of informal carers will rise  from 674 000 to 780 000, an increase of 16 per cent. This will see the carer ratio fall by 3.2 per cent from 53.8 per cent in 2020 to 50.6 per cent in 2030.

The research by  Deloitte Access Economics also explored the economic value provided by carers  and found that:

• Carers  in Australia provided an estimated total of 2.2 billion hours of informal care  in 2020, which equates to each carer providing roughly 15 hours of care per  week. This is a considerable increase from the 2015 total of 1.9 billion hours of care.
• Over one third (37 per cent) of primary carers spent more than 40 hours caring each week.
• In  2020, if informal carers were to be replaced by carers employed by the formal  sector, it would cost an estimated $36.12 per carer, per hour.
• In  2020, it is estimated that 22 per cent of primary carers were employed  full-time in comparison to the general population average of 43 per cent.

COVID-19 Caring experience

The COVID-19 Carer Survey (2020) conducted by the Caring Fairly Coalition aimed to assess the impact of the pandemic on unpaid carers’ work and income, expenses, health and  wellbeing and access to services and supports. Overall the results demonstrate  an impact on unpaid carers across Australia with 60 per cent of respondents  reporting that they had lost some or all of the supports for the person they care for and almost half (47 per cent) reporting losing supports for themselves.

Since the COVID-19  pandemic, 44 per cent of carers said they had increased the amount of time spent providing unpaid care support. Many carers cited a reduction of services  for the person they care for as a reason for their increased caring responsibilities.

‘My  daughter’s days during the week were full with various groups and work. So she  was supported or at work for a total of 35 hours a week. Now due to COVID-19  she has only six hours of support a week and the rest is left to myself and my  husband.’

2020 National Carer Survey

In 2020, Carers Australia supported Carers NSW to  build on its biannual carer study and conduct the 2020 National Carer Study.

Nationally, the typical respondent for the study was  a female primary carer of working age with a high school education, not  participating in paid employment and the typical person being cared for was an  adult son with physical disability who is not able to be left alone for more  than a few hours.

Most respondents provided 40 or more hours of care per week, and more than half had been caring for 20 years or more.

Nearly half of the carers who responded were experiencing high or very high psychological distress, and one in three felt highly socially isolated.

One in three respondents said they never get time  out from their caring responsibilities, with only around half having enough  time to keep on top of other responsibilities.

It was relatively uncommon for carers to be asked  about their own needs when accessing services or on behalf of the person they  care for and carers reported challenges getting information about available  services, and the time and energy it took to organise them. Waiting periods for  services were also a common challenge.

One in four carers reported spending more money than  they made in the past 12 months, and exiting employment and reducing working  hours were also reported as common impacts of caring.