The national picture

Since the publication of the previous Carers Strategy in 2012, there have been changes to legislation with the introduction of the Care Act 2014 and The Children and Families Act 2014.

Care Act legislation introduced in April 2015 was designed to improve the support for carers and put them on the same footing as the people they care for. The legislation specifies that councils have a legal duty to meet eligible needs for carers following an assessment.

The Care Act 2014

Under the Care Act, local authorities have new functions. This is to make sure that residents are able to:

• Access services that prevent their care needs from becoming more serious, or delay the impact of their needs
• Get the information and advice they need to make good decisions about care and support
• Receive a range of provision of high quality, appropriate services to choose from.

This means local authorities now have a responsibility to assess a carer’s need for support. These assessments will look at the carer’s needs, consider the impact caring has on the carer and what is it the carer wants to achieve in their own life. It is possible for a joint assessment to be done with both the carer and the person they care for. Further information can be found in the government factsheets on the Care Act 2014.

The Children and Families Act 2014

The Children and Families Act 2014 gives young carers and parent carers similar rights to assessment as other carers have under the Care Act. The regulations set out in the act require local authorities to consider the family needs of the person being cared for. For example, this could be via an assessment of a young person to ensure they are not undertaking an inappropriate caring role, or assessing whether a parent is able to fulfil their own parental responsibilities. Further information about the Children and Families Act 2014 can be found at legislation.gov.uk.

The local picture