The population of Oxfordshire who provide unpaid care has decreased since 2011.
The Census 2021 shows that the proportion of residents who provide weekly unpaid care has decreased across Oxfordshire from 9.4% in 2011 to 7.7% in 2021.
The proportion of residents who provide the most hours of unpaid care has increased since 2011, whilst those who provide the least has decreased.
How have the hours provided of weekly unpaid care changed?
- The number of people providing 1-19 hours of unpaid care has decreased by 32%.
- The number of people providing 20-49 hours of unpaid care has increased by 43% .
- The number of people providing 50+ hours of unpaid care has increased by 24%.
Note: The above figures account for the observation totals only due to the lack of age-standardised rates in the Census 2011 . Below you can see these differences when using rates of the population, as well as age-standardised proportions from the Census 2021.
| Provision of unpaid care | People | % of population (non age-standardised) | % of population (age-standardised) |
|---|---|---|---|
| No care | 634,626 | 92.3% | 92.1% |
| 1-19 hours | 29,895 | 4.3% | 4.5% |
| 20-49 hours | 9,143 | 1.3% | 1.4% |
| 50+ hours | 13,636 | 2.0% | 2.1% |
England and Wales
Oxfordshire residents provide less unpaid care than the rest of England and Wales.
The age-standardised proportion of the population, over 5 years old that provides weekly unpaid care in Oxfordshire was 7.9%. This was lower than that of England and Wales proportion of 9.0% (-1.1 percentage points difference).
Source: Census table TS039ASP
Oxfordshire districts
Cherwell has the lowest proportion of the population who provide unpaid care across all Oxfordshire districts.
Cherwell has the lowest prevalence of weekly unpaid care provided, when using age-standardised proportional rates (7.7%). This is below the Oxfordshire average of 7.9% (-0.2 percentage points difference), and below the England and Wales average of 9.0% (-1.3 percentage points difference).
| Area | Unpaid carers | % of population (age-standardised) |
| Cherwell | 11,597 | 7.7% |
| Oxford | 10,290 | 8.0% |
| South Oxfordshire | 11,225 | 7.8% |
| Vale of White Horse | 10,595 | 8.1% |
| West Oxfordshire | 8,967 | 8.1% |
| Oxfordshire | 52,674 | 7.9% |
| England and Wales | 4,989,016 | 9.0% |
The Office for National Statistics’ Census 2021 Bulletin provides national context and the Oxfordshire data explorer’s unpaid carers section provides the datasets.