Section 3. Which groups of carers got support, and what kind?

This section provides information about what kinds of support unpaid carers received and how this varied by a number of different characteristics.

In this chapter, we explore these differences amongst all carers who told us that they needed or received support. This means we have excluded responses from carers who told us they did not need any support for their caring roles, but included those who told us they needed support but did not receive any.

We have also excluded responses from some carers who told us they did get support, where we could not discern whether the help they got was formal or informal in nature. For more information on how we have defined the types of support received, see the Introduction and Data and Methods section.

This chapter includes analysis of who was most likely to have reported receiving support that allowed them to take a break from caring. The Care Reform (Scotland) Act (2025) establishes a legal right to breaks from caring for those providing unpaid care.

Support by hours spent delivering care

Reports of not having received any support despite needing it were higher among carers providing 50+ hours of care per week (31%), than they were among those providing the lowest number of caring hours per week (up to 19 hours: 21%) (Figure 4).

However, carers who provided the lowest number of caring hours per week primarily reported receiving informal support from family, friends and neighbours. 50% of carers providing up to 19 hours of care per week reported that their support was entirely informal in nature, a higher proportion than all carers providing 20+ hours of care per week.

Carers who provided 50+ hours of care per week were more likely to be receiving formal support (32%) and breaks-related formal support (15%) than those providing up to 19 hours of care per week (29% and 8%, respectively).

Figure 4: Reports of not having received any support despite needing it were higher among carers who were providing 50+ hours of care per week than among those providing up to 19 hours a week.

Bar chart showing variations in the receipt of different types of support by the number of caring hours provided per week, among those carers who told us they needed or received support

Note: only the estimates for carers providing up to 19 hours and those providing 50+ hour are visualised here, for the full estimates see the supplementary tables.

Support by sex

Male and female carers told us they did not get any support despite feeling they needed some at similar rates (female: 27%; male: 25%).

They also reported receiving different types of support at similar rates:

• Overall, 29% of female carers received formal support, which was similar to 31% of male carers
• 11% of female carers reported that they received breaks-related formal support which was similar to 10% of male carers.
• Carers of both sexes reported they received only informal support for caring at similar rates (both 44%).

Support by deprivation

The Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation (SIMD) is a measure of deprivation that compares income as well as access to resources and opportunities between areas. SIMD can be split into five groups, with SIMD1 being the most deprived and SIMD5 being the least deprived.

Reports of not having received any support despite feeling that they needed it were higher amongst carers living in the most deprived areas (SIMD1: 32%) than amongst those living in the least deprived areas (SIMD5: 23%) (Figure 5).

Reports of receiving any type of formal support for caring were also lower amongst carers living in the most deprived areas (SIMD1) than amongst those living in the least deprived areas:

• Overall, 23% of carers living in SIMD1 reported that they had received some kind of formal support for caring which, along with 26% of carers living in SIMD2, was the lowest rate of formal support receipt reported. This compared to 37% of those living in SIMD5.
• 8% of carers living in SIMD1 indicated that they received breaks-related formal support compared to 13% of those living in SIMD5.
• 15% of carers living in SIMD1 indicated that they received non-breaks-related formal support, compared to 24% of those living in SIMD5.

Figure 5: Carers living in the most deprived areas (SIMD1) were less likely to have received formal support than those living in the least deprived areas (SIMD5)

Bar chart showing variations in the receipt of different types of support by SIMD, among those carers who told us they needed or received support.

Note: only the estimates for SIMD1 and SIMD5 are visualised here. For the full estimates for SIMD2, SIMD3 and SIMD4 see the supplementary tables.

Support by age

Carers between the ages of 25-54 were most likely to report not having received any support despite needing it (31%-37%) compared to carers aged 55+ (12%-23%), and those aged 17-24 (20%).

Carers aged 55 and over were more likely to report receiving either type of formal support, than those aged under 45:

• Carers in the age bands between 17 and 44 all reported receiving breaks-related formal support at similar rates to each other (7-8%), and at lower rates than those in the age bands for 55 and above (12-14%).
• Carers in the age bands between 17 and 44 all reported receiving non-breaks-related formal support at similar rates to each other (12%-13%) and at lower rates than those aged 55 and above (21-25%).

Support by ethnicity

• Carers who identified as white were less likely to report not receiving any support despite needing it (25%), than those who identified as ethnic minorities (41%).
• Carers who identified as white were more likely to report receiving formal support (30%) than those who identified as ethnic minorities (22%).
• However, both white and ethnic minority carers reported receiving breaks-related formal support at similar rates (11% and 9% respectively).

Note: The majority of responses to HACE were from carers who identified as white. 99% of carers responded when asked about their ethnicity, and of those 95% identified as White. For detailed response rates see the supplementary tables.

Support by disability

Disabled carers were more likely to tell us that they did not receive any support despite needing it (32%) than carers who did not indicate they were disabled (22%) (Figure 6).

Disabled carers were also less likely to report that they had received any formal support than carers who indicated no disability:

• Overall, 25% of disabled carers told us their support included some kind of formal support which was lower than 34% carers who indicated no disability.
• Similarly, 10% of disabled carers reported they had received breaks-related formal support, which was lower than 12% of non-disabled carers.

Figure 6: Reports of receiving support, and receiving formal support, were lower among disabled carers than non-disabled carers. 

Bar chart showing variations in the receipt of different types of by disability, among those carers who told they needed or received support.

Support by urban-rural classification

Carers who lived in urban areas (26%), towns (28%) and rural areas (26%) reported similar rates of not receiving any support despite feeling that they needed it.

They also all reported receiving different types of support at similar rates. Overall, 29%-30% of carers in all three areas reported receiving formal support. This contained:

• 11% who reported receiving breaks-related support.
• And 18%-19% who reported receiving non-breaks-related formal support.