ABSTRACT

Informal or unpaid caregiving is increasingly significant in the context of an ageing population and pressures related to the funding of care in later life. The relationship between health and informal caring remains contested. Cross-sectional analysis of recent census data points to a positive association between caring and health, with carers being less likely to report a limiting long-term illness than non-carers. However, there may be a healthy carer selection effect, with those in better health being in a position to provide care. This chapter investigates the relationship between caring and health using the Office for National Statistics Longitudinal Study, a 1 per cent sample of the population of England and Wales, using 2011 Census records linked to the 2001 Census responses from the same individuals. Two separate dimensions of the ‘caring-health’ relationship are investigated using a longitudinal approach. First, the impact of caring on health is examined using a typology of care provision – non-carers, light carers and heavy carers - in 2001 and 2011. Second, the chapter investigates the relationship between health and care, examining the characteristics associated with providing care in 2011, taking into account prior selection into the caring role at 2001. Multivariate analysis predicting informal caring at 2011 among those who were providing care in 2001 indicates that being in fair health in 2011 is significant, as is the intensity of care provision in 2001. The implications of these findings for future research and for the design of policy supporting carers are discussed.