Unpaid care
Cohabiting couples provide less unpaid care
Percentage of adults who provide care for one or more hour(s) per week: by partnership status and age, 2001, Great Britain
It is not clear whether cohabitating relationships imply the same obligations and ties as marriage. This may have consequences where the provision of care is concerned, especially between partners/spouses.
The 2001 Census suggested that provision of care by adults in cohabiting couples is lower than provision of care by adults in married couples. Whereas 16 per cent of people in married couples provided care for one hour a week or more, only 9 per cent of people in cohabiting couples did so. For every age group provision of care was higher for married couples.
The differences between married and cohabiting couples are particularly striking with regard to people in mid-life and in older age groups. At ages 55 to 59, for example, while 23 per cent of people in married couples provided care for an hour a week or more, only 17 per cent of those in cohabiting couples did so.
The 2001 Census was the first to collect information on the provision of unpaid care in the population. In 2001 there were approximately 5.5 million adults aged 19 and over in Great Britain providing unpaid care, constituting approximately 13 per cent of the population living in private households.
General Household Survey data from 2000/01 shows that majority of unpaid care is family care. At least 70 per cent of all unpaid carers provided care to relatives, including parents and parents-in-law, spouses and children. The remaining 30 per cent provided care to other family members, friends or neighbours. The correspondence between unpaid care and family care was even greater for longer hours of care. Those who provided care of 20 hours a week or more made up just over one quarter of all carers. Of all care provided for 20 hours a week or more, over 90 per cent was provided to relatives, particularly partners and parents
Provision of care for 20 hours a week or more by people aged 65 and over in married couple families (without children): by gender and age, 2001, Great Britain
The 2001 Census data show that provision of care in older married families without children was almost equally divided between men and women. However, as the figure above shows, it varied according to age and sex. Between the ages of 65 and 74, women outnumbered men in provision of care for long hours, but at ages 75 and over men outnumbered women.
Of the total number of people aged 65 and over who provided care for 20 hours a week or more in married couple families without children, approximately 175,000 were men and 170,000 were women. Gender equality is widely recognised as a characteristic of provision of care for spouses in older age groups. As one study put it: 'spouse care by elderly people breaks normal gender boundaries of caring' (Arber S and Ginn J (1991) Gender and Later Life: A Sociological Analysis of Resources and Constraints, Sage: London).
Source: Census 2001, Office for National Statistics; Census 2001, General Register Office for Scotland
Notes: Married couple families without children are families with no dependent or non-dependent child of that family in the household.
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