1. The Care Act 2015 Manchester Carers Forum / Gaddum Centre
Presentation from the Carers Perspective

2. What does it replace National Assistance Act 1948
Health Services & Public Health Act 1968
Chronically Sick and Disabled Persons Act 1970 (but only for adults)
Health & Social Services & Social Security Adjudications Act 1983
Disabled Persons (Services, Consultation and Representation) Act 1986
NHS & Community Care Act 1990
Carers Acts
Health & Social Care Act 2001 (the Act that concerns Direct Payments)

3. Well Being Duty Section 1
The principal of well-being of the cared for and their Carers covers a range of outcomes such as:
physical and mental and emotional well-being.
participation in work, education and training
social and economic well-being.
The duty on local authorities is a ‘target’ duty - that is one which directs the way they carry out their legal functions towards the public but does not confer rights on individuals of well being.

4. Prevention Duty
The duty on local authorities to prevent, reduce and delay needs for care and support.
This includes providing or arranging for the provision of services in their area which will prevent or delay the development of. or reduce the need for support by carers.
Local authorities are able to charge for preventative services but the language originally in the draft Bill has changed from:
‘enabling a local authority to impose a charge’ to
‘permit a local authority to make a charge’.

5. Duty to provide information and advice
The Act requires local authorities to provide information and advice relating to care and support locally.
Each local authorities to establish an information and advice service about how the system operates in their area, including:
The choice and types of care and support
How to access care and support
How to access independent financial advice on care issues
How to raise issues of concern
How could this be delivered?

6. Advocacy
Duty to provide independent advocacy to represent and support an individual if needed to facilitate their involvement in assessments and preparing support plans (Clause 67)
This includes advocacy support for carers, carers of children at transition age and young carers at transition age.
This need applies where an individual would otherwise experience:
Substantial difficulty in understanding relevant information
Retaining that information
Using or weighing that information
Communicating their views wishes or feelings
If however the carer has a friend!

7. Assessment
The Act makes clear that both adults (needs assessments) and carers (carers assessments) should be assessed on the appearance of need and regardless of what the local authority thinks is the level of their need and regardless of their financial resources.
This removes the requirement to ask for an assessment
It removes the requirement for the carer to be providing substantial care on a regular basis.

8. Assessment continued
The assessment must consider how the provision of support would enable a carer to achieve their desired day to day outcomes.
The assessment must consider whether the carer is willing, and able, to continue to care.
The assessment must consider if the carer is working, training or in education or wishes to continue to do so.
A local authority, when carrying out a needs or carer’s assessment, may work jointly with or on behalf of another body which is carrying out another assessment, such as a continuing healthcare assessment.
A carer or the cared for has a right to receive a written record of the assessment.
If the cared for refuses an assessment?

9. Eligibility
The Care Act puts in place a national eligibility threshold setting one national level at which needs are great enough to qualify for funded services. This will replace the Fair Access to Care System (FACS) which allowed local authorities to choose between four levels of eligibility.
For the first time there will also be an eligibility threshold for carers, details of this threshold are yet to be set out, however the proposal so far is that it would be equivalent to the current “substantial level”

10. Duty to meet care needs
The Act sets out the circumstances where a local authority has a duty to meet an adult’s care needs. It also creates the first ever entitlement to support for carers once assessed.
The Act makes clear that a local authority does not have a duty to meet eligible needs that are being met by a carer. However If a carer were to cease providing care and to stop meeting any eligible needs, this would trigger a review of the adult's care and support plan, and may mean that the local authority is required to meet the needs.
Carer decides to resume their life before caring, back to work, education or anything else?

11. Charging and Financial Assessment
Local authorities can charge carers for meeting and assessing their needs (most currently don’t)
Local authorities can charge the cared for person for assessing and meeting their needs
But they can not charge one for the other
But who does a particular service benefit if its in both assessments?
A new cap on the amount a person with care needs should contribute for their own care, any charges to meeting the carers needs do not count.
Care accounts which will record an adult’s progress towards the cap on costs will be set up for each individual.

12. Safeguarding
Where a local authority has reasonable cause to suspect that an adult in its area who has needs for care and support is experiencing risk or abuse (including financial abuse or neglect) and as a result is unable to protect themselves, they have to make enquiries to decide what action to take
These sections also establish safeguarding boards and place a duty on local authorities to protect the property of individuals who are being cared for away from home. They can also recover reasonable expenses from the adult for carrying out the latter duty.

13. Children and Families Act 2014
The Children and Families Act for the first time provides for a stand alone right to an assessment for young carers. As with the adult assessment, a young carer now has the right to an assessment on the appearance of need.

14. Some further sources of information
care act briefing June 2014 (pdf)
Care Act 2014 (article)
Care Act Overview – Luke Clements (pdf)