Carers Survey Research Report 2024
Exploring unpaid carers' experiences of short breaks and respite care
The research report of our 2024 carers short break survey is now available. We thank everyone who took the time to complete our survey and the organisations that generously helped us share it to a wide audience.
Read our research report
Read the findings of our 2024 survey here.
This survey was not just about hearing their stories, but about putting carers' voices and experiences at the heart of policy making and influencing real change.
The findings build on and reinforce many conversations already underway with carers and carer support services. They provide a robust evidence-base for urgent advocacy and reform and demonstrate that the short break needs of carers cannot be met by a legislative change alone: they need access to information, support to access breaks, and an infrastructure with the variety and capacity to meet their needs.
Why did Shared Care Scotland do a survey?
The Shared Care Scotland carers’ experience survey gathered carers' insights and experiences of accessing and using short breaks and respite services in Scotland.
We carry out occasional surveys to improve our understanding of the needs of unpaid carers and to make sure we are hearing directly from those who use short break services, their carers and their families.
This helps us better influence the development of national and local policies and practice and improves carers access to meaningful breaks from caring.
Thank you for participating in our short breaks carers survey
We would like to thank everyone who participated in our survey on carers’ experiences of accessing and using short breaks and respite care. Over 1,000 responses were returned and the insights provided will be invaluable to us as we work to understand and improve the short breaks and respite support available to carers.
We recognise that many of you shared stories of significant challenges and hardships. Please know that your voices have been heard, and we are committed to using this information to advocate for better resources and support for all carers.
If you are currently facing difficulties, we encourage you to reach out for support. Our enquiry line is available at 01383 622462, and you can also access a wide range of resources, including information on how to access breaks, on our website at www.sharedcarescotland.org.uk.
The following organisations might also be useful:
Why take part
With a new 'right to a break' in development, it has never been more important to put carers voices at the heart of decision-making. Our survey helped us understand what matters most to carers so we can best represent them in our work.Don Williamson CEO, Shared Care Scotland
What was the data used for?
The data from our survey was analysed by the Shared Care Scotland team following the closing date at the end of July 2024.
After our initial analysis we also conducted a number of focus groups to discuss the issues in more detail with particular groups of carers. This included those that are under-represented in the survey, or specific groups of carers such as parent carers, carers from rural areas, or those caring for people with specific or high level of need.
The findings from the survey are now available in our research report, which was published on 26 March 2025.
If you took part in the survey, your data has been managed in accordance with our privacy policy and all responses are anonymised and unattributed.
Your voice matters
People with lived experience must be partners in the commissioning process and integral to decision-making and prioritisation, monitoring progress and making improvements; nothing about me, without me, as the saying goes.Derek Feeley quote from the Independent Review of Adult Social Care
Share our survey report
If you are an organisation that works to support unpaid carers or those they care for, we'd love it if you could help share our survey research report so that we can reach as many people as possible.
We have created some social posts and images that you can download and copy-paste straight into your social accounts.
More information
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