Modelling Informal Caring Behaviours in the Scottish Population

We present an agent-based simulation of social care provision in Scotland that simulates the behavioural processes underlying informal care provision, which accounts for 50% of social care provision in the country. Informal care is modelled as a negotiation process occurring in kinship networks, where agents will work in concert to provide care for those in need within their family. The result is a flexible model that enables the testing and evaluation of complex policy interventions. We demonstrate the model’s flexibility with a proofof- concept examination of the impact of lockdown policies linked to Covid-19 on social care provision.