The financial wellbeing of older carers Dr Lukas Hofstätter Grace Cherrington
Acknowledgment of Country I would like to acknowledge the Traditional Custodians of this Land. I would also like to pay respect to the Elders both past and present and extend that respect to other Aboriginal people here today.
About Carers NSW Who are carers? • Provide care and support to a family member or friend who has a disability, mental illness, drug and/or alcohol dependency, chronic condition, terminal illness or who is frail. • This definition does not include: • paid care workers • formal volunteers • parents / foster carers / kinship carers • 2.65 million carers in Australia, including approximately 861,600 primary carers (ABS 2019).
Ageing and caring Ageing society: Demand for care • 16% of the Australian population aged 65 or older (ABS 2019a) • Persons aged 65 years or more, living in households, who received assistance in 2018: 1.21 million • Total cost of aged care services to Australian governments: $18.39 billion (Productivity Commission 2019: 14.3) • Of care recipients over 65, 1.8% received only formal care, 36.6% only informal care , 62.5% both (ABS 2019) “…the current aged care system is not able to deal with the level of unmet need for home care services and the demographic pressures behind it […] it has placed terrible pressure on informal carers” (Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety 2019: 162)
Ageing and caring Ageing Society: Provision of care An increasing number and proportion of Carers per age cohort and gender carers are aged 65+ (ABS 2019) (ABS 2019) 2,695 2,699 2,645.6 100% 25% 2,629 2,538 90% 2500 80% 20% 2000 70% 60% 15% 1500 50% 40% 10% 1000 24.5% 23.0% 19.8% 21.5% 17.8% 30% 20% 500 5% 10% 0 0% 0% 2003 2009 2012 2015 2018 Younger 15-24 25-34 35-44 45-54 55-64 65-74 75 and Carers 65+ (Thsd.) than 15 older Total carers (Thsd.) Carers 65+ in % of total carers % overall % of women % of men
Ageing and caring Carers aged 65+ • An estimated 647,200 carers and 238,500 primary carers are aged 65 or older • 50.7% of carers aged 65+ and 60% of primary carers aged 65+ are women • Primary carers aged 65 or older provide on average 21.6 hours of care per week, and • Provided in 2019 an estimated 309.5 million hours of care (out of 1.234 billion hours provided by all carers) (ABS 2019 1 ) • Estimated replacement costs of care provided by carers aged 65+ (2020): $18.7 billion, 1.3% of GDP (calculated following Deloitte Access Economics 2020) 1 categorially averaged hours of care provided
Ageing and caring Primary carers aged 65+ • Duration of provision of care (ABS 2019): Less than 10-14 years 15-19 years 20 years or 1-4 years 5-9 years one year more 3% 31% 22% 17% 10% 19% • Relationship to recipient of care (ABS 2019): Spouse/ Friend/ Other Parent Child Sibling Partner Neighbour relative 75% 10% 9% 2% 1% 1%
Income Median weekly income (ABS 2019) Income gap, median weekly income, men 1500 Age 15-64: 1000 48% - Primary carer: $ 599 (m), $ 620 (f) 500 13% - Non-carer: $ 1,151 (m), $ 825 (f) 0 Age 65+: Male 15-64 Male 65+ - Primary carer: $ 423 (m), $ 400 (f) Carers Non carers - Non-carer: $ 485 (m), $ 451 (f) Income gap, median weekly income, women Labour force participation 1000 Age 15-64: 25% 500 - Primary carer: 58.4% (m), 58.9% (f) 11% - Non-carer: 85.4% (m), 75.9% (f) 0 Age 65+: Female 15-64 Female 65+ - Primary carer: 17.0% (m), 11.8% (f) Carers Non carers - Non-carer: 21.8% (m), 11.1% (f)
Income Source of income, age 65+ (ABS 2019) Main Source of Income, Population 65+ Main Source of Income, Primary Carers 65+ 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% Wages or salary (including from own incorporated business) Wages or salary (including from own incorporated business) Government pension or allowance Government pension or allowance Superannuation, an annuity or Government pension or private pension Superannuation, an annuity or allowance, private pension 67.3% Rental property Rental property Unincorporated business or share Unincorporated business or share in a partnership in a partnership Dividends and/or interest Dividends and/or interest Other source of income Other source of income Primary Carer Total Not a carer Total Primary Carer Male Primary Carer Female
Financial Wellbeing Experiences of financial stress in past year (Carers NSW 2020) 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% Unable to raise $2,000 in a week for something important Could not pay rent or mortgage payments on time Spend more money than you received in a month Could not pay gas, electricity, water, or telephone bill on… Could not pay registration or insurance on time Pawned or sold something Went without meals Unable to heat or cool home Sought assistance from welfare/community organisations Sought financial help from friends or family None of the above Younger than 65 65 and older N=5506
Financial Wellbeing Experiences of financial stress in past year, carers 65+ (Carers NSW 2020) 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% Unable to raise $2,000 in a week for something important Could not pay rent or mortgage payments on time Spend more money than you received in a month Could not pay gas, electricity, water, or telephone bill… Could not pay registration or insurance on time Pawned or sold something Went without meals Unable to heat or cool home Sought assistance from welfare/community organisations Sought financial help from friends or family None of the above Started caring after retirement Started caring before retirement N=1657
Health and Wellbeing Wellbeing and financial stress (Carers NSW 2020) Carers 65+, average score on the Personal Wellbeing Index 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% No experience of financial stress in p12m One financial stress experience in p12m Two financial stress experiences in p12m Three financial stress experiences in p12m Four or more financial stress experiences in p12m Average for Carers 65+ Average for Australians 65+ Correlation of PWI with number of experiences of financial stress: r = -.242, p = < .001 (n=540)
Health and Wellbeing Health and financial stress (Carers NSW 2020) Carers 65+, % of carers under high Carers 65+, average satisfaction with or very high psychological distress health 0% 20% 40% 60% 80% No experience of No experience of financial financial stress stress: 31.3% One experience One financial stress of financial experience stress: 37.8% Two financial stress Two experiences of experiences financial stress: 47.1% Three financial stress experiences Three experiences of Four or more financial stress financial stress: 54.2% experiences Four or more experiences of All Carers 65+ financial stress: 70% N=2,535 N=1,551
Financial Wellbeing Financial contribution of Carers 65+ to costs of care (Carers NSW 2020) 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% Carer paid for medicine Carer paid for support services Carer paid for transport Carer paid for insurance Carer paid for housing Carer paid for housing modifications Carer paid for special training Carer paid for health services and equipment Carer paid for none of the above N=1717
Financial Wellbeing of Older Carers Conclusion • Carers aged 65+ provide approx. 25% of informal care, a significant economic contribution • Most provide long-term, ongoing care, 46% for 10 years or more, • Disadvantage for carers accumulates over the life course in gender- specific ways • Financial distress has an significant impact on health and wellbeing of older carers • Their health, wellbeing, psychological, and financial distress are worse compared to non-carers, but better compared to younger carers • Carers aged 65+ are more dependent than average on the government pension, but receiving it represents an improvement for many Financial security is essential for sustaining caring roles
Carers NSW 2020 National Carer Survey Report available under: carersnsw.org.au/research
Ageing and Caring Sources • Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2019: Survey of Disability, Ageing and Carers, 2018. TableBuilder dataset. www.abs.gov.au, Australian Government, Canberra. • Carers NSW, 2020: Carers NSW 2020 National Carer Survey, unpublished data. Carers NSW, Sydney. • Deloitte Access Economics, 2020: The Economic Value of Informal Care in Australia in 2020. Report for Carers Australia, Canberra. • Khor, S., Fuller-Tysziewicz, M., & Hutchinson, D. (2020). Australian normative data. In: • International Wellbeing Group, Personal Wellbeing Index Manual (6th ed., Ch. xx, pp. xx). Cummins, R. A. (Ed). Australian Centre on Quality of Life, Deakin University. Melbourne. Retrieved from: http://www.acqol.com.au/development/publications#Open-access. • Productivity Commission, 2019: Report on Government Services. Chapter 14: Aged Care. https://www.pc.gov.au/research/ongoing/report-on-government-services, Australian Government, Canberra. • Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety, 2019: Interim Report: Neglect. Australian Government, Canberra.
Lukas Hofstätter, Research and Development Officer Grace Cherrington, Policy and Carer Representation Officer research@carersnsw.org.au www.carersnsw.org.au
Recommend
More recommend
