Unpaid carers save the health and care system more than the entire NHS budget, yet they are almost invisible to the commissioners who plan services. This map makes that workforce visible at district level, and foregrounds the band that matters most for risk: people providing 50 or more hours of care a week. That group is doing near-full-time care, usually alongside their own health needs, and is the most likely to reach the point of breakdown that pushes the person they care for into hospital or residential care.
It is built on one direct source, not a model. The 2021 Census asked every household about unpaid care provided per week, banded into 0–19 hours, 20–49 hours, and 50 or more. The map reads those counts by district. Because it is a direct count rather than a proxy, the figures are interpretable on their own terms.
The honest limitation: the Census undercounts carers, and badly. Many people who provide substantial care, especially spouses caring for a partner and parents caring for an adult child, do not think of themselves as a “carer” and do not record it. Every figure here should be read as a floor, not the true number. The real demand is higher, and the map is most useful for showing relative concentration between districts rather than absolute counts.
Source: 2021 Census (Provision of unpaid care), Office for National Statistics, via Kent Public Health Observatory Health & Social Care Maps V1.6 (March 2026). Indicators: Unpaid carers; Unpaid care of more than 50 hours; Unpaid carers aged 50+. Geography: local authority district. Licence: Open Government Licence v3.0.