The relationships between informal and formal social care for older people in England: A comparison before and after the Care Act 2014

Figures & data

Table 1. Characteristics of the HSE sample aged 65 years old and over.

Variables	Category	HSE 2011–2015	HSE 2015–2018	Total sample
Receipt of care	No care	6,483 (76%)	6,896 (79%)	13,379 (77%)
	Formal care only	187 (2%)	190 (2%)	377 (2%)
	Informal care only	1,487 (17%)	1,328 (15%)	2,815 (16%)
	Both formal and informal care	358 (4%)	363 (4%)	721 (4%)
	Formal IADL care only	306 (4%)	293 (3%)	599 (3%)
	Formal ADL care	239 (3%)	260 (3%)	499 (3%)
	Informal IADL care only	851 (10%)	785 (9%)	1,636 (9%)
	Informal ADL care	994 (12%)	906 (10%)	1,900 (11%)
Gender	Male	3,878 (46%)	4,087 (47%)	7,965 (46%)
	Female	4,637 (54%)	4,690 (53%)	9,327 (54%)
Age	65–69	2,656 (31%)	2,707 (31%)	5,363 (31%)
	70–74	2,142 (25%)	2,626 (26%)	4,404 (25%)
	75–79	1,614 (19%)	1,719 (20%)	3,333 (19%)
	80–84	1,195 (14%)	1,144 (13%)	2,339 (14%)
	85+	908 (11%)	945 (11%)	1,853 (11%)
Living arrangement	Living alone	3,005 (35%)	3,018 (34%)	6,023 (35%)
	Living with others	5,510 (65%)	5,759 (66%)	11,269(65%)
Marital status	Single	3,502 (41%)	3,341 (38%)	6,843 (40%)
	Married	5,013 (59%)	5,431 (62%)	10,444(60%)
Ethnic origin	White	8,153 (96%)	8,367 (96%)	16,520(96%)
	Other ethnic origins	326 (4%)	394 (5%)	720 (4%)
Disability	Independent	5,726 (67%)	6,103 (70%)	11,829(69%)
	Mild disability	1,611 (19%)	1,531 (17%)	3,142 (18%)
	Moderate disability	821 (10%)	770 (9%)	1,591 (9%)
	Severe disability	357 (4%)	349 (4%)	706 (4%)
Longstanding illness	No	2,787 (33%)	2,938 (33%)	5,725 (33%)
	Yes	5,720 (67%)	5,837 (67%)	11,557(67%)
Self-perceived general health	Good or very good	4,873 (57%)	5,221 (60%)	10,094 (58%)
	Fair	2,538 (30%)	2,425 (28%)	4,963 (29%)
	Bad or very bad	1,099 (13%)	1,128 (13%)	2,227 (13%)
Housing Tenure	Owned housing	6,784 (80%)	7,022 (80%)	13,806(80%)
	Rented housing	1,712 (20%)	1,755 (20%)	3,467 (20%)
Pension credit	No	7,372 (89%)	7,829 (92%)	15,201(90%)
	Yes	893 (11%)	707 (8%)	1,600 (10%)
Education	No qualification	4,181 (49%)	3,822 (44%)	8,003 (46%)
	Secondary education	3,305 (39%)	3,644 (42%)	6,949 (40%)
	Higher education	994 (12%)	1,284 (15%)	2,278 (13%)
Sample size		8,515	8,777	17,292

Note: * Numbers may not add exactly due to rounding.

Table 2. Factors associated with receipt of formal social care (bivariate probit models without the interaction term).

Independent variable		Formal care for ADLs or IADLs	Formal care for IADLs only	Formal care for ADLs
		Coefficient (Robust standard errors)
Receipt of informal care	No
	Yes	−0.400** (0.128)	−0.760*** (0.112)	−0.054 (0.124)
Time	Before 2015
	After 2015	0.022 (0.041)	−0.027 (0.042)	0.062 (0.059)
Age	65–69
	70–74	0.187* (0.074)	0.139 (0.079)	0.242* (0.111)
	75–79	0.397*** (0.719)	0.375*** (0.076)	0.259* (0.108)
	80–84	0.581*** (0.072)	0.502*** (0.075)	0.486*** (0.108)
	85+	0.910*** (0.071)	0.769*** (0.075)	0.727*** (0.103)
Gender	Male
	Female	0.206*** (0.046)	0.274*** (0.049)	−0.011 (0.066)
Marital status	Single, never married
	Married	−0.289** (0.098)	−0.212* (0.103)	−0.363* (0.143)
Living arrangement	Living alone
	Living with others	−0.424*** (0.096)	−0.432*** (0.098)	−0.326* (0.142)
Ethnic origin	White
	Other ethnic origin	0.290** (0.096)	0.148 (0.109)	0.404** (0.129)
Education	No qualification
	Secondary education or lower	0.355*** (0.046)	0.306*** (0.05)	0.182** (0.066)
	HE degree or equivalent	0.482*** (0.078)	0.386*** (0.081)	0.236 (0.122)
Housing tenure	Outright ownership or Mortgage
	Renting	−0.051 (0.046)	−0.104* (0.05)	0.096 (0.063)
Pension credit	No
	Yes	0.049 (0.056)	0.102 (0.06)	−0.046 (0.077)
Disability	Independent
	Mild disability	1.549*** (0.078)	1.636*** (0.077)	1.042*** (0.179)
	Moderate disability	2.089*** (0.099)	1.492*** (0.081)	2.176*** (0.176)
	Severe disability	2.633*** (0.098)	0.634*** (0.132)	3.146*** (0.181)
Longstanding	No
Illness	Yes	0.261*** (0.07)	0.279*** (0.07)	0.137 (0.11)
Self-perceived	Good or very good
Health	Fair	0.209*** (0.056)	0.174** (0.055)	0.176* (0.084)
	Bad or very bad	0.386*** (0.066)	0.32*** (0.065)	0.253** (0.092)
Wald χ2 test of ρ		χ^2 (1) = 11.694***	χ^2 (1) = 53.592***	χ^2 (1) = 22.154***

Table 3. Factors associated with receipt of formal social care (bivariate probit models with interaction term).

Independent variable		Formal care for ADLs or IADLs		Formal care for IADLs only	Formal care for ADLs
		Coefficient (Robust standard errors)
Receipt of informal care	No
	Yes		−0.416** (0.131)	−0.825*** (0.119)	−0.353* (0.140)
Time	Before 2015
	After 2015		0.003 (0.061)	−0.070 (0.051)	−0.251** (0.083)
Informal care * time	Yes and after 2015		0.032 (0.081)	0.124 (0.085)	0.592*** (0.12)
Age	65–69
	70–74		0.188* (0.074)	0.143 (0.079)	0.237* (0.113)
	75–79		0.397*** (0.072)	0.377*** (0.076)	0.25* (0.11)
	80–84		0.581*** (0.072)	0.508*** (0.075)	0.469***(0.109)
	85+		0.910*** (0.071)	0.772*** (0.075)	0.722***(0.105)
Gender	Male
	Female		0.206*** (0.046)	0.276*** (0.049)	−0.016 (0.066)
Marital status	Single, never married
	Married		−0.289** (0.098)	−0.214* (0.103)	−0.375* (0.145)
Living arrangement	Living alone
	Living with others		−0.423*** (0.096)	−0.433*** (0.098)	−0.31* (0.144)
Ethnic origin	White
	Other ethnic origin		0.290** (0.096)	0.147 (0.109)	0.411** (0.128)
Education	No qualification
	Secondary education or lower		0.355*** (0.047)	0.304*** (0.05)	0.173** (0.066)
	HE degree or equivalent		0.482*** (0.077)	0.386*** (0.081)	0.225 (0.125)
Housing tenure	Outright ownership or Mortgage
	Renting		−0.051 (0.047)	−0.105* (0.05)	0.091 (0.064)
Pension credit	No
	Yes		0.049 (0.056)	0.102 (0.06)	−0.041 (0.077)
Disability	Independent
	Mild disability		1.548*** (0.078)	1.636*** (0.078)	1.038*** (0.181)
	Moderate disability		2.089*** (0.099)	1.49*** (0.081)	2.179*** (0.177)
	Severe disability		2.633*** (0.098)	0.635*** (0.132)	3.156*** (0.183)
Longstanding	No
Illness	Yes		0.261*** (0.07)	0.282*** (0.07)	0.133 (0.11)
Self-perceived	Good or very good
Health	Fair		0.209*** (0.056)	0.173** (0.055)	0.164 (0.084)
	Bad or very bad		0.386*** (0.066)	0.32*** (0.065)	0.24** (0.092)
Wald χ2 test of ρ			χ^2 (1) = 11.738***	χ^2 (1) = 51.033***	χ^2 (1) = 20.133***

Figure 1. Probability of receiving formal social care according to whether or not receiving informal care.

Note: 95% confidence interval plotted on the mean