Poverty

There are approximately six million people in the UK who provide care and support for someone, usually a relative or partner, who, because of age, health or disability, are unable to cope alone. Although this form of unpaid care work saves the taxpayer an estimated £34 billion a year in health and social services, the carers themselves are often left in poverty, excluded from any active social life and often without paid employment. This publication draws on recent research that looks at the way caring impacts on the lives of different types of carers.

This study examines the experiences of 50 older caregivers to people living with HIV/ AIDS in Lomé, Togo. The authors used a mixed qualitative-quantitative design to identify several challenges faced by the elderly caregivers. They were ill prepared for the caregiving demands and overburdened by enormous financial needs of people with HIV/AIDS, having been unexpectedly thrust into the role. They felt frustration, despair, and isolation because HIV/AIDS has changed the family structures and social expectations.

Due to the high incidence of disability amongst their contemporaries, older people are likely to be involved in informal caring relationships. Due to the limited nature of post-retirement incomes, such carers are also likely to be relatively poor. In spite of this, little attention has been given to the role of older carers of disabled people or to the influence of poverty upon this role.

When young people care for a parent with illness or disability their lives are different. This study 'examines the young carer's transition to adulthood'. The profile of 60 young carers is described; half were in lone parent families. Almost all were performing domestic tasks as well as providing general and/or personal care; some were also caring for younger children. Education, training and employment opportunities were, in reality, not available to them. Most of the families were outside the labour market and received welfare benefits. Social exclusion and poverty were widespread.