Carers

The Carers and Disabled Children Act 2000

This act applies to carers over 16 and made the following principal changes to the law:

• it gave local councils mandatory duties to support carers by providing services to carers directly
• it gave carers the right to an assessment independent of the person they care for
• it empowered local authorities to make direct payments to carers
• it enabled councils to support flexibility in provision of short breaks through the short break voucher scheme

The Carers (Equal Opportunities) Act 2004

This act made three main changes to the existing law around carers’ services as follows:

• it placed a duty on councils to inform carers, in certain circumstances, of their right to an assessment of their needs
• it provided that when assessing a carer’s needs, councils must take into account whether the carer works or wishes to work, undertakes or wishes to undertake education, training or leisure activities
• it facilitated co-operation between authorities in relation to the provision of services that are relevant to carers.

The Work and Families Act 2006

This extended the right to request flexible working to employees who care for adults. This built on the introduction (through the Employment Act 2002) of the right to request flexible working for parents of children under the age of six (or 18 if the child is disabled). Imelda Walsh’s independent review recommended that the right to request flexible working should be extended to cover parents of children aged 16 and under. The Department welcomed her recommendations and will consult on them.

The Children and Young Persons Act 2008

This Act reforms the statutory framework for the care system in England and Wales by implementing the proposals in the White Paper, Care Matters: Time for Change (published in June 2007) that require primary legislation. This forms part of the Government's programme to ensure children and young people receive high quality care and support. The Act also includes provisions in relation to well-being of children and young people, private fostering, child death notification to Local Safeguarding Children Boards and appropriate national authorities, the powers of the Secretary of State to conduct research and applications for the discharge of Emergency Protection Orders.

Care and Support Green Paper

The Government is preparing a Green Paper that will suggest ways in which the care and support system could work in the future.  Changes to the system will affect every adult in England.

The Government believes everyone should be able to have their say about how a new system should work as every adult in England will be affected by these changes.  Many of us will need care and support when we get older or we will have family members or friends who will need it.

Between May and November 2008, the Government engaged with service users, carers, members of the public and shareholders to get their views on how care and support services should be delivered in future.

These views will feed directly into the Green Paper, which will be published in 2009.  The paper will suggest various ways in which the system could work in the future.  Publication will be followed by a period of consultation, when the Government will go back to those it engaged with and test its ideas.

The Care and support website will have regular updates on the consultation progress, and provide visitors with the chance to share their opinions:

• Care and support website (opens new window)