Legal Requirements of a Carers Assessment

The statutory guidance emphasizes that carers should be active partners in key Care and Support processes, of which assessment is one (the others being Support planning and review). This is because people are seen under the Act as best placed to judge and make decisions about their own Wellbeing.

The involvement of the carer in any assessment about them is therefore of paramount importance under the Care Act and the Local Authority must take practicable steps to ensure their involvement and that they remain central to the process and any decisions made about them (or that will affect them). This includes having effective processes and suitably trained staff in place.

Involvement means expressing wishes and feelings, weighing up options and making decisions and these things apply regardless of how complex a carers needs appear to be.

Having a duty to ensure the carer’s involvement does not mean that every carer being assessed must be involved in the exact same way, instead that the approach to assessment must be person-centred, supporting the carer to have as much choice and control over the nature and level of their involvement as reasonably possible. Some carers will want to be more involved than others, and some will find being involved easier than others. However, in all cases the Local Authority must encourage the carer to be as involved as they can be and be flexible in their approach to assessment in order to facilitate this.

In regard to flexibility the statutory guidance states that the Local Authority should be prepared to:

1. Adapt the format, style and nature of the assessment;
2. Adapt communication, including providing interpreters where needed;
3. Be flexible about how long the assessment may take; and
4. Consider making available an advocate to support the carer to be involved.

In certain situations the Local Authority has a duty under the Care Act to make independent advocacy available to the carer. To understand statutory responsibilities in relation to advocacy see The Duty to Provide an Independent Advocate section of this guide.

Where it appears to the Local Authority that a carer may have needs for Support (either now or in the future), the Authority must assess:

1. Whether the carer does have needs for Support (or is likely to do so in the future), and
2. If so, what those needs are (or are likely to be in the future).

The duty to carry out a carer's assessment applies regardless of the Local Authority's view of:

1. The level of the carer's need for Support;
2. The nature or intensity of the care provided to the person (a carer providing emotional support a few times a week is just as entitled to an assessment as a carer providing 24 hour care);  
3. The level of their financial resources; or
4. The level of the financial resources of the person needing care.

A Local Authority, in carrying out a carer's assessment, must involve:

1. The carer; and
2. Anyone else that the carer asks the Local Authority to involve.

Where the carer or the person with Care and Support needs has particular needs that are outside the expertise of the person carrying out the assessment, other professionals with suitable expertise may need to be involved. Indeed, there are specific requirements when assessing adults who are deaf-blind or who have Autism.

A carer's assessment must include an assessment of:

1. The sustainability of the caring relationship;
2. Whether the carer is able, and is likely to continue to be able, to provide care for the person needing care;
3. Whether the carer is willing, and is likely to continue to be willing, to provide care for the person needing care;
4. The impact of the carer's needs for Support on their Wellbeing;
5. The outcomes that the carer wishes to achieve in day-to-day life; and
6. Whether, and if so to what extent, the provision of Support could contribute to the achievement of those outcomes.

The Local Authority must have regard to:

1. Whether the carer works or wishes to do so; and
2. Whether the carer is participating in or wishes to participate in education, training or recreational activities (including having time to themselves).

The Local Authority must also consider:

1. Whether, and if so to what extent, matters other than the provision of Support could contribute to the achievement of the outcomes that the carer wishes to achieve in day-to-day life;
2. Whether the carer would benefit from the provision of information and advice;
3. Whether the carer would benefit from support or services that would prevent, reduce or delay the need for Support; and
4. Whether the carer would benefit from anything which may be available in the community.

Information about the assessment process should (wherever possible) be provided to the carer before the assessment starts and in an accessible format.

The assessment process in all cases must be transparent and understandable so that the carer is able to participate in it as effectively as possible and:

1. Understand their own needs, the outcomes they want to achieve and the impact of their needs on their own Wellbeing;
2. Start to identify the options that are available to them to meet those outcomes and to support their independence and Wellbeing; and
3. Understand the basis on which decisions are reached.

A carer's assessment can be carried out under the Care Act as a combined assessment at the same time as the person being cared for, so long as it is deemed appropriate to do so. Both the carer and the person being cared for must agree to this and there must be no conflict of interest between the two.