Scotland's Carers, 2026: Main Report

Annex 1: Comparison of sources

Previous editions of Scotland’s Carers, both the original 2015 report and subsequent annual updates, have primarily used data from the Scottish Health Survey (SHeS) to estimate the population of unpaid carers. The rationale for this choice is outlined in the initial 2015 report:

“SHeS provides what we consider to be the best estimate of the number of people caring in Scotland at the present time. SHeS asks whether anyone in the household looks after or gives any regular help or support to family members, friends, neighbours or others because of either long-term physical / mental ill-health / disability; or problems related to old age. The SHeS provides estimates for carers aged 4-15 and 16+, and these groups are reported here. However, in practice, young carers are considered to be those aged up to 18 years, and younger adult carers are considered to be aged 18-25 (Scottish Government, 2010).”

Scotland's Census 2022

The national census also provides data on unpaid carers. Although it is useful as a population-level snapshot of the unpaid caring landscape, as a decennial collection, it lacks the frequency that would be required for regular updates.

Additionally, people providing lower levels of care are less likely to be identified in the census, in part due to its self-response format, whereby respondents may not recognise the support they provide as unpaid care. In addition, the collection is often completed by a single household member on behalf of the whole household. As such, the respondent may not be aware of caring activity taking place elsewhere in the household, or may feel uncomfortable explaining that someone else in the household provides care for them.

To illustrate this point, the 2022 Census identified nearly 628,000 unpaid carers, compared to 696,000 (± 41,000) from SHeS, based on 2019-2023 data.

As such, although the census provides useful context and allows more detailed demographic breakdowns of carers than other sample surveys, it is not recommended as the primary source for quantifying the population of unpaid carers.

Comparison of alternative survey data

In addition to the SHeS, several other alternative surveys are available that could be used to estimate the unpaid caring population:

• Scottish Household Survey (SHS)
• Scottish Crime and Justice Survey (SCJS)
• Scottish Surveys Core Questions (SSCQ)

Among these key surveys and the pooled responses in the SSCQ, the SHeS consistently reports the lowest estimated prevalence of unpaid care. The most recent annual estimates from 2024 are included below:

Table 2: The SHeS 2024 data reports a significantly lower proportion of the population providing unpaid care than all other sources.

The proportion and margin of error of the population aged 16+ that provide unpaid care, and that provide no care, comparing annual 2024 Scotland-level data from the SSCQ, SCJS, SHeS and SHS.

The SHS reports the highest prevalence of unpaid caring, followed by the SCJS, then the SHeS. The SSCQ estimate, which pools responses from the SHeS, the SHS, and the SCJS, is driven up by the higher estimates from the SHS and the SCJS.

It is important to note that the confidence intervals for the SHeS do not overlap with any of the other sources, indicating a statistically significant lower estimate in the SHeS than the other surveys. In contrast, the overlapping intervals among the SSCQ, the SHS, and the SCJS suggest no significant differences between these sources.

The question on unpaid care was initially included in the SHeS in 2008, and was only later incorporated into the SSCQ – and therefore added to the SHS and SCJS – in 2014. The question was developed with a strong health and social care focus, and sits alongside more detailed questions on health and unpaid caring, including duration of care, the types of support received by carers, and impacts of care. In contrast, the SHS and SCJS have much broader aims: the SHS focuses on topics such as housing, transport, neighbourhoods, and local services; while the SCJS centres on crime, victimisation, safety, and public perceptions of justice. Neither survey is designed around health or care specifically, nor do they include the follow‑up questions on unpaid caring found in the SHeS. For this reason, the SHS and SCJS are not recommended as primary sources for estimating unpaid caring.

Given that the SSCQ’s larger sample size makes it more statistically robust, particularly for lower-level breakdowns, this is a potential alternative to the SHeS, however it only includes data on individuals aged 16+. The SHeS is the only source that captures data on carers under the age of 16, as well as including additional questions not found in SSCQ, including:

• length of time providing unpaid care
• impacts of unpaid care, including on employment
• support received by unpaid carers

These additional questions included in the SHeS, alongside the possibility of estimating the young carer population, allow for a more comprehensive understanding of unpaid care beyond simple prevalence estimates.