Sport England is investing £100,000 in Carers UK to conduct research into why unpaid carers are more likely to be lonely. With unpaid carers reporting lower levels of wellbeing than the general population, we’ve teamed up with Carers UK to better understand how to use sport and physical activity to combat it.
The project, which sees Sport England awarding almost £100,000 of National Lottery funding to Carers UK, also aims to tackle loneliness among older carers. Research suggests that there are currently 2.5 million carers aged 55+ in England, with that number on the rise.
Unpaid carers repeatedly report poor health outcomes and providing unpaid care is also a significant risk factor for chronic loneliness. Financial costs and physical exhaustion have previously been identified as barriers to carers being active, but this funding will allow Carers UK to further their insight into how these obstacles affect different carers and what resources or support models would be most effective.