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April 2008
Carers UK has been successful in its campaign to keep the questions on caring in the 2011 census.
What was the campaign about?
A question on caring responsibilities was included for the first time ever in the 2001 Census and has led to unprecedented, reliable knowledge both locally and nationally about carers. The questions had been under threat because the Office for National Statistics, which conducts the Census in England and Wales, was restricting the Census to three pages of questions per person and felt that the questions on carers were not sufficiently high priority to be included.
Carers UK started a campaign, Keep Counting Carers, and called for the support of carers, politicians, academics and researchers. We argued that keeping the questions was essential for the implementation of the New Deal for Carers and for delivering support to carers at a local level. No other survey can give the same level of detail as the Census.
How was the campaign won?
On 2nd April Treasury Minister Angela Eagle MP confirmed that money has been made available for an extra page in the Census. This means that several extra questions can be included and ONS will recommend that these include the questions on carers.
A Government White Paper with the proposed questions will be published at the end of 2008 and the final list of questions to be included will not be confirmed until 2010 when Parliament will approve the Census following a question testing programme. However, the fact that the carers questions will go forward in the list of questions recommended by the Office for National Statistics is a considerable relief to all those who have campaigned to keep these important questions.
Imelda Redmond, Chief Executive of Carers UK said: “This is fantastic news and down to the hard campaigning of carers, MPs and academics. We can’t underestimate just how critical it is to have a question on caring in the Census. Thanks to the information we gathered from the 2001 Census we know that caring is an issue that affects millions of families across the UK. The census provides the best opportunity to get hard evidence on how we can support carers.”
The All Party Parliamentary Group on Carers has been active in backing the campaign. Chair of the Group Dr Hywel Francis MP said ‘This is great news for the six million carers and their carers organisations led by Carers UK. I would like to thank all parliamentary colleagues who in great numbers signed my Early Day Motion on this important matter as well as all the carers organisations throughout the country who participated in the campaign. The information on carers in the 2011 Census will be very important to implement the Prime Minister’s new National Carers Strategy.”
Does this decision apply to the whole of the UK?
The decision only applied to England and Wales but it was soon confirmed that Scotland will follow the same course. We are still waiting to hear if it will apply to Northern Ireland but it is expected it will follow course.
You can also write to the Census Office for Northern Ireland asking if they will follow the decision in England and Wales.
Write to:
Census Office (mark your letter Census 2011)
Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency
2-14 Castle Street
Belfast
BT1 1SA
