Adult carer support plan and young carer statement numbers: FOI release

Information request and response under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002.


Information requested

  1. The overall number of adult carer support plans which has been opened in Scotland by 1st March 2023.
  2. The numbers of adult carer support plans which have been opened in each of Scotland’s regions by 1st March 2023.
  3. The overall number of young carer statements which has been opened in Scotland by 1st March 2023.
  4. The numbers of young carer statements which have been opened in each of Scotland’s regions by 1st March 2023.

Response

This information is sourced from the Carers Census, which runs from 1st April to 31st March each year. The latest publication presents data up until 31st March 2022. As such, we can only provide the number of adult carer support plans and young carer statements until 31st March 2022.

The Carers Census is classed as Experimental Statistics as the data quality is still being improved. We do not publish local breakdowns because differences in recording between organisations mean that any variation between areas is likely to be more reflective of what information organisations can provide rather than actual differences. The Carers Census also does not have full coverage of Scotland, as there are some areas where either statutory services, third sector or both could not submit information.

Therefore, while we have provided the local breakdowns as requested, we advise that the number of adult carer support plans and young carer statements should not be used to make comparisons between areas.

The data from the Carers Census is also likely to be an undercount of the true underlying number of adult carer support plans and young carer statements. Additionally, there is variation in local approaches which will influence the figures in different areas.

While not all organisations who submitted data carry out support plans, feedback suggests that there are also organisations that do not record their conversations with carers as adult carer support plans or young carers statements. There will also be times where an adult carer support plan or young carer statement is not appropriate or is declined by the carer.

Some organisations will have an initial conversation with carers and put support in place, but will use an adult carer support plan or young carer statement as an escalation tool if the carer’s situation worsens or their needs increase. Others will have a conversation with carers, put support in place and will record the data relevant to the carer but do not call this an adult carer support plan or young carer statement. As such, the data presented here will not fully represent the number of carers who have a support plan.

All numbers below have been rounded to the nearest 10. Cells with values under 5 have been supressed as indicated by a *. Cells denoted with NR indicate that no data was received from this area. Local Authority totals may not sum to the Scotland total due to rounding and because there were a small number of carers reported who could not be assigned to a Local Authority area.

1. The overall number of adult carer support plans which has been opened in Scotland.

As at the 2021-22 Carers Census (data until 31st March 2022), there were 13,350 carers who were recorded as having an adult carer support plan in place or being put in place.

2. The numbers of adult carer support plans which have been opened in each of Scotland’s regions.

Table 1: Number of adult carers recorded as having an adult carer support plan by Local Authority, Carers Census 2021-22 (Areas cannot be compared)

Local Authority Number of adult carers recorded as having an adult carer support plan in place or being put in place
Aberdeen City 200
Aberdeenshire 340
Angus 1,030
Argyll & Bute 940
Clackmannanshire 210
Dumfries & Galloway *
Dundee City 70
East Ayrshire *
East Dunbartonshire 250
East Lothian 70
East Renfrewshire 10
Edinburgh 240
Eliean Siar 60
Falkirk 490
Fife 280
Glasgow City 2,210
Highland 340
Inverclyde *
Midlothian 60
Moray 90
North Ayrshire 30
North Lanarkshire 1,670
Orkney Islands NR
Perth and Kinross 820
Renfrewshire 100
Scottish Borders 440
Shetland Islands 10
South Ayrshire 300
South Lanarkshire 1,760
Stirling 700
West Dunbartonshire 450
West Lothian 170
Scotland 13,350

3. The overall number of young carer statements which has been opened in Scotland.

As at the 2021-22 Carers Census (data until 31st March 2022), there were 2,360 young carers recorded as having a young carer statement in place or being put in place.

4. The numbers of young carer statements which have been opened in each of Scotland’s regions

Table 2: Number of young carers recorded as having a young carer statement by Local Authority, Carers Census 2021-22 (Areas cannot be compared)

Local Authority Number of young carers recorded as having a young carer statement in place or being put in place
Aberdeen City *
Aberdeenshire 130
Angus *
Argyll & Bute 200
Clackmannanshire 50
Dumfries & Galloway 0
Dundee City *
East Ayrshire 0
East Dunbartonshire 30
East Lothian 50
East Renfrewshire 0
Edinburgh 340
Eliean Siar 0
Falkirk 80
Fife 560
Glasgow City 150
Highland 0
Inverclyde 0
Midlothian 90
Moray 30
North Ayrshire 30
North Lanarkshire 110
Orkney Islands NR
Perth & Kinross 150
Renfrewshire 40
Scottish Borders 0
Shetland Islands 0
South Ayrshire *
South Lanarkshire 110
Stirling 140
West Dunbartonshire 60
West Lothian 0
Scotland 2,360

About FOI

The Scottish Government is committed to publishing all information released in response to Freedom of Information requests. View all FOI responses at http://www.gov.scot/foi-responses.

Contact

Please quote the FOI reference
Central Enquiry Unit
Email: ceu@gov.scot
Phone: 0300 244 4000

The Scottish Government
St Andrews House
Regent Road
Edinburgh
EH1 3DG

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