Scottish Government

CHAPTER SEVEN: CHARACTERISTICS OF CARE RECIPIENTS

7.1 The following chapter provides a picture of the demographic characteristics of people receiving care from an unpaid carer and provides information about those with unmet need. This section is based on the Random Adult data. The discussion in this chapter relates to the 2004 data.

7.2 The need for care has remained constant from 1999 to 2004, with around one in ten (11%) households containing at least one person who is in need of some kind of care. A minority of households contain more than one person (1%) and the considerable majority of these contain two people in need of care.

Characteristics of adults in Scotland in receipt of care

7.3 Overall, less than one in ten (7%) random adults are in receipt of care (see Table 7.1). This section compares those adults in receipt of care to adults not in receipt of care. A higher proportion of adults in receipt of care were female (61% compared with 56% of adults not in receipt of care). This may be as females generally live longer than males.

Table 7.1: Sex of individuals in receipt of care compared with adults not in receipt of care

7.4 As expected, a higher proportion of adults in receipt of care are aged 65 and over (66% compared with 30% of other adults - see Figure 7.1). Consequently, only 7% of adults in receipt of care are aged between 16 - 34 years old (compared with 25% of other adults).

Figure 7.1: Age of adults in receipt of care and adults not in receipt of care
Base: Adults in receipt of care = 1189; Adults not in receipt of care = 13589

7.5 As can be seen from Table 7.2, given that adults receiving care are more likely to be older adults, the results are perhaps as expected and indicate that a higher proportion of these adults (compared with the other adults) are widowed (32% compared with 10%). Adults receiving care were also less likely to be married (39% compared with 53% of other adults).

Table 7.2: Marital status of individuals in receipt of care compared with adults not in receipt of care

7.6 A significantly higher proportion of adults in receipt of care were from older smaller and single pensioner households (28% and 33% compared with 17% and 10%) households (see Table 7.3). These results are as expected, given that adults in receipt of care are more likely to be older adults.

7.7 Only 3% of adults in receipt of care are in employment (compared with 51% of other adults - see Figure 7.2). The majority of these adults are retired (61% compared with 27% of other adults) and a further 28% are unable to work due to short term ill-health (compared with only 5% of other adults).

Figure 7.2: Economic status of adults in receipt of care and adults not in receipt of care
Base: Adults in receipt of care = 1189; Adults not in receipt of care = 13589

7.8 A lower proportion of adults in receipt of care (compared with other adults) live in properties bought with the help of a loan or mortgage (17% compared with 41% - see Table 7.4). A higher proportion of adults receiving care were social renters (46% compared with 23% of other adults). Additionally, these individuals were more likely to live in flats or maisonettes (43% compared with 31% of other adults), and less likely to live in detached houses (12% compared with 22%).

Table 7.4: Housing tenure and property type of individuals in receipt of care compared with adults not in receipt of care

7.9 As can be seen from Table 7.5, compared to other adults, a higher proportion of adults in receipt of care live in Glasgow (16% compared with 12%) and a lower proportion live in Grampian (5% compared with 9%). In terms of urban/rural classification, a higher proportion of adults receiving care were from large urban areas (45% compared with 41%).

Table 7.5: Area characteristics of individuals in receipt of care compared with adults not in receipt of care

7.10 To summarise the characteristics of adults in receipt of care, a higher proportion of these individuals (compared with adults not receiving care) are:

• Female
• Older adults (aged 60 years old and older)
• Live in older smaller or single pensioner households
• Are permanently retired from work or unable to work due to short term ill health
• Married or widowed
• Are social renters, and live in flats rather than detached houses
• Households on lower annual incomes
• 'Older smaller' and single pensioner households
• Live in flats rather than detached houses

Households with an unmet need for care

7.11 Around 0.3% of households contain someone reporting unmet need. Unmet need was identified where adults reported the need for care but did not report being in receipt of any care. The results indicate that households with an unmet need of care are fairly even in terms of the highest income householder ( HIH) being male or female (51% male and 49% female) whereas a higher proportion of other households had a male as the HIH (62% compared with 38% - see Table 7.6). Generally, households recording an unmet need were older - in 57% of these households, the HIH was aged 60 years or older compared with 34% of other households.

Table 7.6: Sex of HIH for households with unmet need of care compared with other households (%)

7.12 Given that households reporting an unmet need are generally older households, the results in relation to economic status are as expected and indicate that these households are less likely to have a HIH in employment (in only 11% of these households the HIH is in paid employment compared with 55% of other households - see Figure 7.3). In fact, in 49% of these households, the HIH is permanently retired (compared with 29% of other households) while 30% are permanently sick or disabled (compared with 6% of other households).

Figure 7.3: Economic status of HIH for households with an unmet need for care compared with other households
Base: Households with unmet need = 259; Other households = 91428

7.13 As can be seen from Table 7.7, a higher proportion of households reporting an unmet need of care than other households were non-working households (85% versus 44%). In fact, 63% of households with an unmet need were non-working single households. Households with an unmet need of care appear to be more financially disadvantaged than other households, with only 19% of these households having an income of £20,001 or more compared with 47% of other households.

Table 7.7: Households with unmet need of care compared with other households (%)

7.14 In a related vein, households reporting an unmet need were more likely to be social renters compared with other households (50% versus 29% - see Table 7.8). Taken together, these results indicate that households with an unmet need for care are more likely to be older, non-working households living on low incomes.

Table 7.8: Household tenure for households with unmet need of care compared with other households (%)