Carers NI wants to hear from you!

Carers NI is delighted to launch the State of Caring 2024 survey today, and encourages all local unpaid carers to take part.

Every response to the survey helps to build a picture of unpaid caring experiences in Northern Ireland – highlighting the biggest challenges facing our carer population, including poverty and financial strain, and providing the evidence needed to make a case for change.

The State of Caring survey runs annually in Northern Ireland and this year we’re hoping to get the highest number of results in its history. In the past, the data from the survey has been a valuable tool for a wide range of stakeholders and carer groups. By maximising the number of responses, we can ensure that remains the case this year.

Your voice matters! Take part in the survey: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/JLXH97H

Background Information

Last year over 11,600 of you filled in our State of Caring survey. We are so grateful to every single carer who took the time to respond.

It’s incredibly important for us to be able to use your responses in our policy and campaigning work. As we approach a UK General Election, it is vital that we use carers’ voices to campaign for change from the next UK Government and from Governments in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

We used your responses from last year to make several recommendations to prevent carer poverty through our newly launched Carer Poverty Coalition, a group of 130 national and local organisations which recently published a manifesto on supporting carers facing financial hardship. Your responses also informed our recently published manifesto calling on political parties to commit to a new social contract for unpaid carers, as well as a new report we published with the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Carers which called for a National Carers Strategy.

Thanks to your input in previous surveys, we have also been able to successfully campaign for new legislation allowing carers to take unpaid carers leave and to set down a good evidence base for the implementation of the Carer’s Leave Act 2023. We also used your responses to campaign on overpayments of Carer’s Allowance, which has led to some commitments from Government to improve processes – but there is more to do. We also used your responses to campaign on carers’ rights, as more progress needs to be made to ensure carers get the support they are entitled to. In addition, the results from last year were discussed on national TV shows, as well as local BBC radio, and in many national and local newspapers, raising the profile of unpaid caring across the UK. Carers’ voices and experiences were at the heart of this coverage.

This year, the survey covers issues and areas that carers have told us that matter to them. It may take around 20-30 minutes to complete. If you don’t get to the end, your responses will be saved and sent to us, even if you don’t finish. However, please continue with the questions as far as possible. This allows us to advocate far better for carers.

Any comments you provide will not be identified as yours unless you give us permission to contact you, and we get agreement from you to do so. This survey is confidential, and your personal details will never be passed onto a third party. We will publish the anonymised results of this survey. For more information, please see our privacy notice here.

Please note that this survey is only for unpaid carers (or former unpaid carers) who are looking after a disabled, older or seriously ill relative or friend.

The survey closes on 11 August and we will publish the results later this year.

State of Caring survey: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/JLXH97H