Just under half of carers known to councils say they look after themselves

Carers known to councils have slipped below the halfway mark

In 2016-17, more than half of unpaid carers in touch with social services in England said they could look after themselves. By 2025-26, just under half did: 46%, down from 54.9%, according to the Department of Health and Social Care's Survey of Adult Carers in England (opens in a new tab).

Over the same years, the share who say they are neglecting themselves rose to 19.9%, from 15.8%.

These are not hidden carers. They are among 311,660 people already known to social services in 152 of England's 153 councils, so the survey is a reading on the support councils commission for carers they have already found.

Stress is at a record high, and longer hours do not explain it

Stress from caring is at the highest level the survey has recorded, with 64.8% of carers reporting it. Depression has risen since 2016-17.

The share who say caring has given them a health condition of their own is also the highest in the series.

Longer hours do not explain it. A slightly smaller share of carers look after someone for 100 hours a week or more than in 2023-24, though half still care for at least 50 hours a week. On this measure at least, the worsening is not down to more carers doing round-the-clock care.

Fewer people cared for are reaching day centres

In 2025-26, 21.9% of carers said the person they look after had used day centres or activities in the previous 12 months, down from 26.7% in 2016-17.

That fall runs alongside the slide in carers who say they can look after themselves. For day service providers, it means fewer of the people cared for by carers councils know about are coming through the door.

The regulator found the same gap in council support

The Care Quality Commission's July report on its assessment of councils found carer support was "not always sufficient, or easy to access" (opens in a new tab), with gaps in seeking out carers early.

Two separate exercises, run by different bodies in different ways, point the same way. Read together, they suggest the decline reflects a lasting gap in what councils commission for carers rather than a one-off dip.

Who answered, and who did not

The survey cannot show how much unpaid caring there is across England, only trends among carers councils know about. Just 28.3% of the carers sampled sent back a questionnaire, so the results reflect those who chose to reply.

Carers Trust says one pound in every hundred goes on carer support

Carers Trust says councils spent £203m on carer support services in 2024-25 (opens in a new tab), just 1% of £29.4bn total council spending on adult social care. The figure comes from separate council spending data, not the survey.

Carers Trust's director of policy and public affairs uses it to argue that the Casey Commission must make carers a central focus of adult social care reform. Whether the commission will do so has not yet been settled.

Carers UK chief executive Helen Walker says the survey shows a gap between the pressure on unpaid carers and the support they receive (opens in a new tab). The Association of Directors of Adult Social Services president Phil Holmes calls on government to fully fund a long-term plan for social care (opens in a new tab) so councils can better support carers.

The carers in this survey are the ones councils have already found. If most of them no longer say they look after themselves, what is the 1% of spending that Carers Trust says goes on carer support expected to do?