Public Hugely Underestimate Likelihood of Becoming Unpaid Carers Research Reveals

The public significantly underestimate the likelihood of becoming an unpaid carer at some point in their lives, guessing 38% of people in the UK ever will – far below the reality of 65%, according to a new study.

It finds men underestimate the most, guessing 27% of people will ever become unpaid carers, whereas women are notably more accurate, guessing 50%.

At the same time, the public are very clear on how essential this care is: three in four (73%) believe the health and social care system would collapse without unpaid carers – most just don’t expect to be among those propping it up.

The findings come in new research from the King’s Better Health & Care Hub, King’s Health Partners, and the Policy Institute at King’s College London, which reveals unpaid care is seen as vital across the political spectrum, with between seven and eight in 10 of all parties’ supporters saying the system would collapse without it.

It’s viewed as such a vital role that six in 10 (62%) people say providing unpaid care is mainly a societal responsibility which requires additional government support, compared with just one in seven (14%) who see it as a personal responsibility that does not.

Again, the study finds this is not a partisan issue, with majorities of every party’s supporters saying it’s a societal responsibility, ranging from 68% of Lib Dems to 59% of those who back Reform UK.

The research, which is based on a nationally representative survey of 2,050 UK adults aged 18+ carried out with Opinium between 26 and 28 August 2026, comes as the public are being asked, through the government’s Big Conversation on Care, what a future National Care Service should look like – including what families should reasonably be expected to do.

The findings inform new recommendations from King’s Better Health & Care Hub on how to better support and empower the “Careforce” – the full network of people who provide care in everyday life, which includes people managing their own health, families and unpaid carers, volunteers, communities and health and social care professionals.

The priorities for supporting unpaid carers

Asked to pick the top two priorities for supporting unpaid carers, half (50%) of the public choose access to reliable overnight or daytime respite care, putting it well ahead of paid time off work (34%), which ranks second.

Those who say they have provided unpaid care themselves agree, with over half (53%) choosing respite care as one of their top two priorities.

Both unpaid carers (38%) and the public overall (33%) also see it as important for unpaid carers to be valued and listened to by health and care professionals and included in decisions about the care they provide.

The government is seen as prioritising health care over social care

More than half (54%) say the UK government gives less priority to social care than to health care, while only one in eight (12%) say the opposite.

And around two-thirds (63%) say professional care workers are paid too little – by far the most common view, though down from 71% when the question was last asked in 2024.

The view is widely held across the political spectrum, with Lib Dem (72%) and Green (71%) supporters most likely to say care workers are underpaid, and Conservative (59%) and Reform UK (58%) supporters least likely.

Public and those working in the sector differ on how care itself should be delivered

Presented with two models of care for people with complex needs, the public lean slightly towards one with a single professional trained to provide several aspects of care, bringing in specialists only when needed (40%), rather than a team of specialised professionals each focusing on their own area of care (32%).

Among those who work in the NHS or social care, there is a mild preference in the opposite direction – 45% favour the model with multiple specialists and 39% would prefer a single lead professional.

Recommendations

In a new paper to accompany the survey findings, the King’s Better Health & Care Hub argue more must be done to support and recognise the full “Careforce”. Their recommendations include:

• Enabling care to be organised around people’s needs rather than professional and diagnostic boundaries.
• Creating the conditions for joined-up, proactive care through secure, reciprocal information-sharing across health, social and community care settings.
• Building the skills needed to use and evaluate emerging technologies safely and effectively.

Professor Irene Higginson OBE, Co-Director of the King’s Better Health & Care Hub, said:
“Most of us will provide unpaid care at some point in our lives. Yet this survey shows that we substantially underestimate how likely that is, even though nearly three-quarters of people recognise that our health and care system could not cope without unpaid carers – a view shared across political divides. Carers are not at the margins of the system – they are central to it.

“The public also appear open to professionals being trained to provide a broader range of care, although health and care workers are more cautious. We need to understand why, including listening to people experiencing fragmented care.

“Today we are launching recommendations to recognise, value and better support the whole Careforce – and to turn that recognition into action.”

Professor Graham Lord, Senior Vice-President (Health & Life Sciences) at King’s College London and Executive Director of King’s Health Partners, said: “Universities have a vital role in building the Careforce of the future. At King’s, we want to turn these ideas into practice through education and training that equips people to work differently, across traditional boundaries, and meet increasingly complex health and care needs.”