Who is a Carer?
There are around 11,000 people in the Newry and Mourne area who care for a relative, partner or friend, or for a child with a disability.
They care, unpaid, for people who cannot manage without help because of disability, illness or frailty. Anyone can be a carer - carers are found in all communities and all age groups.
Many people who care do not identify themselves as carers, and therefore carry on caring unaware of the support available to them.
Are you a Carer?
Download our Adult Carers Referral form to be kept informed of activities and events run by Newry and Mourne Carers and associated charities (Right click link below and select Save As)
Many carers are financially worse off by £130 per week as a result of becoming a Family Carer.
Carers are entitled to a number of benefits, most of which a Carer will be unaware of. The following site has been designed by The Princess Royal Trust for Carers to help Carers identify which benefits they may be entitled to.
Here are some statistics from the General Household Survey published in 1998.
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One adult in eight in the UK is a carer and one in six households (16%) contains a carer |
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Men are almost as likely to care as women - 42% of carers are men There are about 5.7 million carers overall in the UK, with about 1.9m caring for someone in the same household |
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1.7 million devote at least 20 hours a week to caring |
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Almost one million care for over 50 hours a week |
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14% of women (3.3 million) are carers and 11% of men (2.4 million) |
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The peak age for caring is 45-64. One fifth of adults in this age group are providing care |
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18% of carers are looking after more than one person |
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Of those carers looking after someone at home, just over half are caring for a spouse; just over a fifth are caring for parents or parents-in-law and a similar proportion are caring for children |
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A total of 24% of carers have been looking after someone for at least 10 years, and 23% had been caring for between five and nine years |
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Over a third of carers looking after someone in another household spend fewer than five hours caring, while nearly two thirds of those who live in the same household spend at least 20 hours a week caring |
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Of carers devoting at least 20 hours a week to caring, over 60% are women |
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Over a third of all carers report that no-one else helped them care |
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In total 59% of all carers look after people who do not receive regular visits from health, social or voluntary service |