This Client Level Data (CLD) Insight report looks at how the ethnicity of people accessing long-term support compares to the overall population in England and is based on data published in July 2024. Note that in the CLD around six per cent of records had unknown ethnicity and these have been excluded from the analysis.
In March 2024 the proportion of people accessing long term support who were white (85.9 per cent) was higher than the proportion of adults in the population aged 18 and above who are white (83.3 per cent). There was a similar picture for people who access care and support who are Black, representing 5.2 per cent of adults accessing long term support compared to 3.8 per cent of the overall population who are Black.
In contrast, we see a lower percentage of Asian people in long-term support than in the population at 6.0 per cent compared to 8.9 per cent. People of both mixed ethnicity and other ethnicity make up a small proportion of those accessing long-term support (1.5 per cent and 1.4 per cent respectively) and these are both lower than the percentage of the overall population they represent.
Figure 1: Percentage of people accessing all long-term support settings in each ethnic group compared to the England population (18+)
| Ethnic group | All support settings | England population (2021) | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Asian | 6.0% | 8.9% | -2.9% |
| Black | 5.2% | 3.8% | +1.4% |
| Mixed | 1.5% | 1.9% | -0.5% |
| White | 85.9% | 83.3% | +2.6% |
| Other | 1.4% | 2.0% | -0.7% |
There is some variation between support settings, and the charts in figure 2 show the percentage of people in each support setting in each ethnic group (bars) compared to the percentage they represent in the population (line). Note the chart for the white ethnic group has a different axis to the other ethnic groups due to the large difference in size.
The current data suggests that nationally, in nursing care and residential care more than 9 in 10 people were white. Compared to the population, there is a higher proportion of people in nursing care (91.8 per cent) and in residential care (93.8 per cent) who are white, than the 85.9 per cent of the overall adult population who are white.
For people accessing long term support, the proportion accessing community care who are Black (6.1 per cent) is higher than proportion of adults who are Black (3.8 per cent). The proportion of people in nursing care who are Black is just short of the representation in the overall adult population, but lower for residential care. For long term support care users from Asian and mixed ethnic groups, the proportion of people accessing care represented is less than the proportion represented in the overall population.
This suggests that there are differences in how people from different ethnic groups access long term support. However, we cannot tell from this data whether choice and culture or access to support are the main reasons for this.
Data in this briefing
Adult social care in England, monthly statistics: July 2024
Ethnic group, England and Wales: Census 2021, ONS
This briefing is one of a number of CLD insights reports available on the Client Level Data homepage.
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Client Level Data
The Client Level Data (CLD) collection is the first national collection of social care records, covering requests for support, assessments, reviews and services provided or commissioned by councils as part of their duties under the Care Act 2014.
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How does the setting for long-term support vary between age groups?
We know that as a person get older, they are more likely to experience adverse health conditions and therefore have more health and care needs. It’s therefore not a surprise that accessing long-term support is more common among older people, with around 60 per cent of those accessing it being over the age of 65.