What did we find? Many people started to provide care during the pandemic
We found that two thirds of the individuals providing care during the second wave of the pandemic were not previously providing any care (67%). Carers UK that suggested there have been 4.5 million new carers since the start of the pandemic.
Our analysis showed that almost half hong kong rcs data of carers providing 20+ hours of care per week during the second wave of the pandemic were not previously providing care (45%). This might represent a considerable change in responsibilities for some people, particularly during an already difficult time. It is important that these new carers are aware of and are able to access available support.
The change in the definition of caring outside the household between wave 10 of the main survey and the COVID-19 survey may be contributing to this increase in the number of unpaid carers we observed. We conducted a sensitivity analysis to only include those providing care within the same household during the second wave of the pandemic. We found that around one in three individuals providing care (within the same household) during the second wave of the pandemic were not previously providing any care (33%). We also found that around one in five carers providing 20+ hours of care (within the same household) per week during the second wave of the pandemic were not previously providing any care (20%).