Unpaid carers survey 2023

This survey is for people who provide unpaid care to a friend, family member or neighbour, who could not manage without that support. It’s an opportunity for unpaid carers to say what is working well and what could be better.

Tell us about your experiences as an unpaid carer in Wrexham.

This survey is for people who provide unpaid care to a friend, family member or neighbour, who could not manage without that support. It’s an opportunity for unpaid carers to say what is working well and what could be better.

NEWCIS are the provider of unpaid carers services in Wrexham, they run groups, offer advice, information and support and undertake carer needs assessments (what matters conversations) on behalf of Wrexham Council.  

This survey is run by Wrexham County Borough Council’s Social Care Department.

This year 302 unpaid carers shared their experiences and views with us. This is a marked increase on the last survey in 2021 which had 126 respondents.

• The highest number of responses came from those in the 45-54 and 55-64 categories, which is slightly younger than the average in previous years.
• Females provided the highest response rate to the survey. This aligns with previous years data received.
• The highest percentage of respondents have been in their caring role for over 10 years.
• It is apparent from the data that support needs required are very specific to each individual and unpaid carers are often managing multiple support needs for the person they are caring for.
• Nearly half of all respondents were in full or part time education or employment as well as undertaking their caring responsibilities. This shows that services and support need to be available outside of normal working hours.
• 31% of respondents had other members of their household also identifying as an unpaid carer. The responses included: partners, husband, wife and children.
• 67% of respondents reported that their health had deteriorated as part of their caring role. 
• 67% of the unpaid carers who responded to the survey have received help, support and advice or had contact with NEWCIS. 
• 80% of respondents rate the support from NEWCIS as fairly good or very good.
• Just over half of respondents feel supported in Wrexham as an unpaid carers.

During the summer of 2023 we also held 16 drop in information events across Wrexham County Borough. We engaged with citizens at these events and gathered feedback. The feedback received echoed the feedback received through the survey. The main areas of feedback were:

• It is hard to find short term respite placements
• This was the first time some people had heard about NEWCIS – more work needed to promote the services that are available
• Services need to be more available for working unpaid carers

Also, during the summer, a few members of the commissioning team attended the Taith Ni (Unpaid carers of people living with dementia) group and gathered feedback directly from unpaid carers. The main points to come from the engagement were:

• Respite needs to be meaningful for the cared for
• Respite may need to only be for a couple of hours for the unpaid carer to get that much needed break and have a coffee.

Follow the link to download the full Unpaid Carers Survey Report 2023.

• The report will be shared with the Lead Member for Adult Social Care.
• Responses to this survey and other engagement activities which took place during the summer of 2023 will be shared with NEWCIS so that their action plan can be updated to further reflect the needs of unpaid carers and the challenges raised.
• The unpaid carers’ communications strategy needs to be updated in light of the responses to the survey. New ways to communicate the advice and support available to unpaid carers in Wrexham need to be explored.
• Support for working unpaid carers and unpaid carers in education needs to be improved.
• Support for parent carers and respite for parent carers needs to be simplified and made more easily accessible.

Follow the link to download the full Unpaid Carers Survey Report 2023.