Australia’s Disability Strategy 2021–2031 Outcomes Framework: 3rd annual report

The informal support provided by parents, siblings, kinship guardians, other family members and friends is vitally important to people with disability. Informal support can include practical and emotional support and representing the interests and rights of the person being supported. Acknowledging and supporting those who provide informal care (including voluntary organisations) can increase the participation of people with disability in community life (Australia’s Disability Strategy 2021–2031).

Carer satisfaction with support

Carers are those who provide any informal assistance to people with disability. 

Caring can incur health and emotional costs for some informal carers. Access to, and awareness of, carer support services, such as respite care, may alleviate these impacts of caring (Deloitte Access Economics 2020). 

Due to the nature of the available data, for the purposes of this measure, carers refer to primary carers. A primary carer is someone over the age of 15 who provides the most informal assistance to a person with disability for the core activities of mobility, self-care and communication (ABS 2024). 

The desired key system outcome for this measure is that carer support services provide carers of people with disability with appropriate assistance. 

Latest results: 2022

• In 2022, 45% of carers were satisfied with the range of services available to assist in their caring role.
• This was 5 percentage points lower than the baseline value in 2018 (50%), indicating a regress (Figure 5.4).

For figure notes, see Appendix C: Figure notes and sources.

For the latest data and breakdowns of the data, see Australia’s Disability Strategy Outcomes Framework | Carer satisfaction with support.

Access to alternative care

Respite care is a service that provides alternative care arrangements for people with disability (ABS 2024). Respite care can provide benefits for people with disability as well as their carers. It helps people with disability who require support needs, by giving them some time away from families and carers. It also allows carers time away from caring responsibilities (NDIS 2022). 

A range of people use respite care for different reasons. However, there may be barriers to accessing these services, such as cost, availability or lack of knowledge about availability (AIHW 2023). Due to the nature of the available data, the population for this measure is restricted to primary carers. 

The Outcomes Framework intended to track the proportion of informal carers of people with disability who report that alternative care arrangements are available and affordable. Measure wording has been revised in this report to reflect available data more accurately (see Appendix B: List of measures).

Available data do not allow the exact measure listed to be tracked. An alternative measure is reported here as: 

• Proportion of informal carers of people with disability who report no unmet need for respite care.

The desired population outcome for this measure is to see an increase in carers being able to access suitable carer support.

Latest results: 2022

• 86% of carers reported no unmet need for respite care, the same proportion of carers in 2018 (86%), indicating a status of no change.
• Results from the 2012, 2015, 2018 and 2022 SDAC indicate that there has been very little change in the proportion of carers reporting no unmet need for respite care.

Things to consider when interpreting results

• Unmet need for respite care is defined as needing (more) respite care, regardless of any respite care already received. Primary carers who say they do not need (more) respite care or do not know if they need it are considered to have no unmet need for respite care.

For figure notes, see Appendix C: Figure notes and sources.

For the latest data and breakdowns of the data, see Australia’s Disability Strategy Outcomes Framework | Access to alternative care.