Carers UK has launched an update of its most popular and widely used briefing, Facts about Carers. It is a comprehensive digest of all the key facts and statistics about carers, drawn from various surveys and research looking at who carers are across the UK, employment, health, age, tasks, finances and poverty, and rights.

Did you know?

• One in eight adults in the UK (six and a half million people) are carers.
• Every day over 6,000 people take on a caring responsibility - that equals over 2 million people each year.
• 58% of carers are female and 42% are male.
• Carers save the economy £119 billion per year, an average of £18,473 per carer.
• The main carer's benefit is £58.45 for a minimum of 35 hours, equivalent to £1.67 per hour - far short of the national minimum wage of £6.08 per hour (2012-2013 figures).
• People providing high levels of care are twice as likely to be permanently sick or disabled.
• Three million people in the UK combine work with caring, roughly one in eight workers.

For all the facts and figures, download the briefing here...