Legal Duties to Support Carers
The action plan emphasises taking a whole system approach to carers. This means working with different services and organisations who may support unpaid carers. There are some legal duties that underpin the way statutory services, such as Camden Council and the NHS, work with unpaid carers.
The Care Act 2014 is the law that sets out how adult social care in England should be provided to improve people’s independence and wellbeing. The Care Act recognises that supporting carers is as important as the people they care for. The Care Act defines a carer as, “an adult who provides or intends to provide care for another adult”.
All carers have the right to a carer assessment. In Camden, these are called carer conversations.[1]
If a carer has eligible needs identified through the assessment, they have the right to support. Carers must get a support plan, which may include a personal budget, and considers things the carer wants to achieve on a day-to-day basis to support them in their caring role.
Young carers or parent carers also have a right to a transition assessment under the Care Act as the carer, or person they care for, approaches 18 years of age and is likely to need support.
Council’s must also provide information and advice services for all carers to prevent reduce or delay the development of longer-term care and support needs, and to help support their own wellbeing. In Camden this can be found on Camden Care Choices: https://camdencarechoices.camden.gov.uk/support-and-advice-for-carers/
Local authorities must also arrange for an independent advocate for any carer who would find it difficult to participate in their assessment or support planning, where there is no-one else to help.
The Health and Care Act 2022 introduced new NHS Integrated Care Boards (ICB). Through the set-up of local multi-agency partnership boards, ICBs aim to make it easier for health and care organisations to deliver joined up care for people who require support from many services. Camden is part of the North Central London (NCL) ICB. There are five London boroughs in the NCL ICB, the other four boroughs are Barnet, Enfield, Haringey, and Islington.
Each borough has their own integrated care partnership of organisations that come together to plan and deliver joined up health and care services, and to improve the lives of people who live and work in their area. They are focussed on prevention, better outcomes for people and reducing health inequalities. In Camden, this is called the Camden Borough Partnership. It is made up of NHS organisations including Mental Health, the Council, Voluntary Community and Social Enterprise (VCSE) sector and other organisations like commissioned social care providers.
The Act sets out duties to involve unpaid carers and those they care for in decision making. There is an expectation that carers should be involved in relation to a person’s care including prevention, diagnosis and treatment and changes or developments to services. Carers also have rights for hospital discharge. The NHS must ensure that unpaid carers are involved as soon as possible when discharge plans are being made. The Act covers all carers of adults who may need support following hospital discharge.
There are other Acts that protect carers right, including the Human Rights Act 1998, the Equality Act 2010, and the Work and Families Act 2006.
There are also duties under the Children and Families Act 2014. For example, the right for young carers and parent carer assessments. This is outside the scope of this action plan, as the action plan focusses on adults over 18 who are caring for adults, or people approaching adulthood. Work is underway on the young carers strategy which will connect with this action plan.
Other guidance and national policies referencing unpaid carers include the NHS Long Term Plan 2019; the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE); and the Care Quality Commission.
[1] The right for an assessment is based solely on carers having the ‘appearance of need’ for care and support. There are no requirements for the number of hours or level of care a carer needs to do in order to have an assessment. The carer does not need to live in the Council area doing the carer assessment, but the person receiving the care does need to live, or be an ‘ordinary resident’, in the Council area. The Care Act places a general duty on Council’s to promote an individual’s wellbeing. There are wellbeing principles that form part of the eligibility criteria in a carer assessment. Council’s must proactively consider the impact on wellbeing of caring.