Unpaid carers in Glasgow save the economy £1.93 billion each year.

This staggering figure is part of a new report, 'Valuing Carers: 2022, Scotland', launched by Carers Scotland and the Centre for Care.

The report estimates the value of unpaid carers in Scotland to be £15.9 billion, based on analysis of new statistics from Scotland’s Census 2022.

This represents a significant 19.4 per cent increase in the contribution of unpaid carers since 2011.

The growth mirrors the rising trend of Scotland’s unpaid carer population, with an increase in both the number of unpaid carers and the intensity of the care they provide.

Richard Meade, director of Carers Scotland, said: "Unpaid carers are the backbone of our health and social care system and without them the system would simply collapse.

"£15.9bn in equivalent support every year is staggering.

"We must do so much more to support unpaid carers as they provide this care, as well as treating them with the dignity and respect they deserve, and truly valuing them for what they do.

"The reality is that, despite this enormous contribution, too many unpaid carers face a cost to their financial security, health and career.

"Asking unpaid carers to make such a significant contribution to our society without providing the right support to help them in their caring role is both unjust and unfair."

The research also highlights the critical need for the Scottish Government to provide increased investment in social care and breaks from caring, to improve financial support for unpaid carers, and deliver a new duty on health services to identify and promote carers’ health and wellbeing.

Professor Matt Bennett, from the Centre for Care at the University of Birmingham, who led the research, said: “Our research shows the growing economic value of unpaid care in Scotland, which has reached an astonishing £15.9 billion.

“To put this in context, the NHS budget for Scotland in 2022/2023 was £17.8 billion.

“The value of unpaid care was also approximately four times higher than the expenditure on adult social services in Scotland that year.

“Without unpaid carers, our health and social care systems would collapse.

“In fact, our work not only shows that the number of carers has increased, but that they are also providing more hours of unpaid care than ever before.

“We hope policy makers see the urgent need to act to support unpaid carers.”