Caring About Equality (Carers Week report 2025)
The Caring About Equality report published on the first day of Carers Week, delves deeper into the impacts of caring for current and former carers and explores the disadvantages that carers feel they face relative to people without caring experience.
The report looks specifically at key health and wellbeing issues, finding that:
Breaking Barriers: Carers Impacted by Substance Use
Funded by Middlesbrough Public Health in January 2025, We Care You Care carried out a brief consultation period with Middlesbrough carers impacted by the substance use of a family member or friend.
Below we have shared our one page briefing which covers the key messages, alongside the full report.
Caring and classes: the education gap for young carers (Carers Trust)
This report sets out the state of young carers’ educational attainment and opportunities in England in 2024. It proposes policy and practice solutions, as well as recommendations to improve recognition and identification of, and support for, young carers throughout their education.
Forgotten Report (Kinship, 2024)
Forgotten explores the support which children in kinship care receive – or don’t receive – to help them learn well at school and to manage their mental health and relationships. It shares insights from our 2023 annual survey of kinship carers to reveal how a complex, inadequate and often inaccessible landscape of support for kinship children around education, special educational or additional learning needs, mental health and family contact and relationships is resulting in significant challenges for kinship families across England and Wales.
Making caring the 10th protected characteristic (Carers UK, Report)
- Across the UK, millions of people provide unpaid care for an ill, older or disabled family member or friend. Recent Census data suggests that there are 5.7m carers across the UK.
- Carers can experience a number of challenges. They are more likely to have poor mental and physical health, and more likely to be living in poverty. Many carers have to give up paid employment to provide care which can lead to financial difficulties.
- Many carers have experienced discrimination or harassment.
Report: What Pushes Unpaid Carers into Poverty?
Joseph Rowntree Foundation have sought to understand why so many carers face financial hardship and look at how this can be addressed.
Using data from the Understanding Society survey,1 this report investigates the dynamics of poverty among unpaid carers between 2011 and 2012, and 2019 and 2020.
We find that:
No Choice But to Care Report (Carers UK, 2024)
The No choice but to care report, published on the first day of Carers Week 2024 found that:
Summary Report of Carers Campaign Workshop
On Thursday 25 April we hosted an interactive workshop providing local carers with the opportunity to come together with a selection of professionals to co-design the key messages for this years local Carers Week campaign, 10-16 June.
We have created this summary report capturing the learning from South Tees Carers and Professionals and how the intelligence and resources will be used.
Growing Older- Planning Ahead (HWST)
Tees Valley Healthwatch Network worked in partnership with North East Commissioning Support on behalf of the North East and North Cumbria Integrated Care Board (NENC ICB). The aim was to deliver a local review in response to the national requirement to improve the planning process when families can no longer support their family member to stay at home.
Carers UK: The impact of caring on: physical activity
This report explores the background, experiences and attitudes that unpaid carers have in relation to physical activity, while highlighting the connection between activity, health and wellbeing, and loneliness levels of carers. It also covers the topic of breaks and the impact on physical activity.
Carers of Faith (Carers UK, 2024)
- Carers of faith more likely to report better mental health
- Faith groups encouraged to support unpaid carers in their communities
New research from Carers UK shows that having a religion or faith can support the health of people caring for older, disabled, or seriously ill relatives or friends.
Carers' employment rights today, tomorrow and in the future (Carers UK, 23 Nov 23)
Caring responsibilities for relatives or friends who are older, disabled or seriously ill are having a significant impact on people’s capacity to work and earn a full-time wage, research from Carers UK shows.
There are 2 million carers who are employees – according to the recent ONS Census in England and Wales – but without support from employers, many are at risk of giving up work to care.
Inquiry into the life opportunities of Young Carers and Young Adult Carers by the APPG.
The APPG is the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Young Carers & Young Adult Carers. All-Party Parliamentary Groups are informal groups of Members of both Houses with a common interest in particular issues. The views expressed in this report are those of the group.
The first ever parliamentary inquiry into young and young adult carers has revealed a lack of support is having a devastating impact on their education, wellbeing and future prospects. The inquiry shows:
State of Caring- Impact on Health (Carers UK, 2023)
Carers UK's report on the Impact of Health highlights that shortage of health and care services is having a damaging affect on unpaid carers.