Family Carers and the Census on Sunday 10th April 2011

This Census provides a unique opportunity to quantify the unpaid work of Carers and will for the first time include under 15 year old Family Carers. The campaign is being organised by a group representing ten voluntary agencies, including DFI and the lead organisation is the Carers Association. The purpose of the campaign is to ensure that Carers are aware that Question 22 about “unpaid help” is about Family Carers and to ensure all Family Carers, part-time and full-time, complete it.

On examining the results of the earlier Census in Northern Ireland and the UK, we are convinced that Carers in Ireland are under-represented in our Census of 2006. The gap is mainly in the group of carers who are also in paid employment and under age carers, though there is also a deficit in the fulltime carers numbers.

The group, chaired by Frank Goodwin of the Carers Association, are now calling on all disability organisations to support the campaign. Specifically we are asking you to use the channels of your organisation and network, such as, newsletter, agenda of meetings, email circulation lists, notice boards, websites etc. to alert as many people as possible about Census Question 22 (Q22).

Accurate answers to Q22 depends on Carers:

1. Recognising that they are Carers and that Question 22’s “Unpaid help” refers to them.
2. Accurately counting their hours of caring per week.

We have included some material that you may consider using and the website contains helpful information for carers. ( www.census.ie ). This is a non-political campaign and is supported by the CSO. Please let us know if you will support this Carers Count Campaign and in what way. You may contact the campaign by e-mailing: cduffy@carersireland.com.

website: http://www.carersireland.com/