Unpaid care, Census 2021

Introduction

This article uses statistics that were published as part of the Phase 1 - Census 2021 topic summaries. These are estimates based on information submitted by householders and other respondents on Census Day 2021, which was on 21st March.

Key points

• 9.6% (112,737) of the Lancashire-12 area's residents aged 5 or over provided some unpaid care (England = 8.8%)
• 9.2% (13,279) of Blackburn with Darwen and 10.9% (14,613) of Blackpool's populations provided some unpaid care
• Ribble Valley is the only authority in the Lancashire-14 area to have a lower population percentage providing some unpaid care (8.5%) than England when using the age-standardised proportions
• At all geographical levels a higher proportion provide 50 or more hours of unpaid care than 20-49 hours
• Provision of 50 or more hours of unpaid care ranged from 3.9% of the population of Blackpool down to 2% in Ribble Valley

The population included in this topic is usual residents aged 5 or over, rather than the more common 16 and over or all ages. The wording of the census question was slightly different to the 2011 version, but did not effectively alter the scope of where or to whom care was being provided.

In Census 2021 ONS has made an age-standardised proportions version of the unpaid care statistics available. This make comparisons between geographical areas and different points in time more reliable.

See the ONS web pages showing changes 2011 to 2021. This is for lower tier local authorities, counties are not included. Our 2011 Census article on unpaid care can be found here. The percentages of people providing some unpaid care appears to be slightly down compared to 2011. ONS suggest that the rules on household mixing during the Covid-19 pandemic may have affected the actual outcomes or the responses.

Interactive report

In the table that shows age-standardised proportions, the values can be sorted by clicking the column headers. In the ward maps a pie chart showing all values for a particular ward can be revealed by moving the cursor over the wards in the map. By default the chart includes the 'Provides no unpaid care' category, which accounts for around 90% of most populations. The percentages shown are automatically calculated in the report, rather than being those published by ONS. We have included an additional 'Hours of care' filter on the right of the map. The reason is to allow the 'Provides no unpaid care' category to be removed from the charts. Depending on your device, this can be done by opening up the list in the filter and unticking (Ctrl + clicking) that category at the foot of the list, or by selecting all of the other detailed ranges of hours. The broader ranges (0-19, 20-49 hours) are not included in this tool. The percentages then shown will be calculated only from the population which is providing unpaid care.

Source: NOMIS: Census 2021: Table c2021ts039 Provision of unpaid care, Census 2021: Table c2021s039ASP Provision of unpaid care - Age-standardised proportions