State of Caring Carers UK State of Caring 2017 Report | Page 16

STATE OF CARING REPORT 2017
The Care Act and Children
and Families Act in England
Obtaining an assessment
In England the Care Act, introduced in April 2015,
should be making it easier for carers to get an
assessment that looks at the impact of their caring
role on all aspects of their life and what support they
and their family need. It should also make it clearer
for carers to find out about what is available to
support them locally and whether they are entitled
to local authority funded support.
Two years on now from its introduction, we asked
carers whether they have been offered or requested
a carer’s assessment in the last 12 months. Just
over one third of carers living in England (39%)
who responded to our survey said they had either
been offered (23%) or asked for (16%) a carer’s
assessment in the previous year. Those who hadn’t
asked or been offered (61%) may still have had an
assessment (see below).
Older carers were most likely to have been offered an
assessment in the last year (30%), while both older
carers and round the clock carers, the most likely to
have asked for one (18%). Those caring for a disabled
child were the least likely to have been offered an
assessment, with just 10% reporting this, while
carers in paid employment were the least likely to
have asked for an assessment (13%).
The Care Act only applies to assessments for adults
caring for other adults. Slightly different rules apply
to children who are caring and to those caring for
children under 18.
Support I’d been offered in previous
years was now not available despite
my caring increasing due to cuts
The Children and Families Act 2014 requires local
councils to assess parent carers on the appearance
of need or where an assessment is requested by
the parent. This is called a parent carers needs
assessment. Despite this, evidence shows that parent
carers are frequently being refused assessments.
When my daughter was under 18 I was
told there was no point in having an
assessment as there ‘isn’t any funding
attached’. I have recently had an adult
carer’s assessment in preparation for
‘transition’. It was over a month ago
and I still haven’t had formal response
but been told I would be better off
organising respite myself
I found that all the right questions
were asked but ultimately when it
came down to it there just isn’t enough
funding to implement anything that
would help to any great extent
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