Carers' Rights / Advocacy

Your Rights to an Assessment

All carers, whether they provide, or intend to provide, regular and/or substantial amounts of care, have the right to have their views and requirements taken into account by a social services department when considering how they should make provision to a service user. 

Three different statutes regulate the nature and outcome of a carer's assessment. These are:

The Carers (Recognition & Services) Act 1995 gives you the right to request an assessment of your ability to provide and continue to provide care.

The Carers and Disabled Children's Act 2000 gives you the right to request an Assessment of your own needs and receive specific 'carer' services irrespective of whether the person you are caring for has had or is having their own needs assessed.  If you are:

• Aged 16 or over and provide or intend to provide a 'substantial amount of care  on a regular basis' for someone aged 18 or over 
• Someone with 'parental responsibility' for a disabled child who provides or  intends to provide regular and substantial care for the child

The Carers (Equal Opportunities) Act 2004 places a duty on Social Services to inform you of your right to have an assessment and to take into consideration your wish to start or continue to work or engage in further education / leisure activities.
(The 1995 and 2000 Acts have been amended by the 2004 Act.)

You may also receive an Assessment if you are caring for someone over 18 who has refused an Assessment or a service of their own.  You do not have to be a relative of the cared for person.  Friends and neighbours can still qualify to have a Carers' Assessment.  If there is more than one carer providing care in your household you are both entitled to an Assessment.  Please note that these rights to an assessment do not apply to paid carers. 

If you have parental responsibility for a disabled child, you have the right to an assessment under the 1995 Carers Act in addition to your needs as a carer being (will be) assessed as part of a family needs assessment (You have the right to a family needs assessment) under The Children Act 1989.  The carers assessment should not be necessary, provided the family needs assessment has fully taken into account your employment, training, education and leisure needs when planning the care package.  You do not need to be the mother or father of the child.

Young Carers
Young people (aged under 18) who provide care to adult family members are also entitled to an assessment of their needs.  This should normally be carried out by local Children's department under the provisions of the Children's Act 1989.  In certain circumstances children aged 16 & 17 can have an assessment under the Carers & Disabled Children's Act 2000 or if under 16 in special circumstances under the Carers (Recognition & Services) Act 1995.

Links:

Carers and Disabled Children's Act 2000 (full text) (external link)
The Children Act 1989 (full text) (external link)
Carers Assessment Details

If you think you, or someone in your family might benefit from any service provided by Social Services and you would like us to contact you by phone or email, please click the following link and complete the Social Services Contact Us/Self Referral Online Form and someone will be in touch with you as soon as possible.

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Human Rights

The Human Rights Act 1998 is legislation that enshrines fundamental civil and political rights.  Under this Act all carers have a:
1. Right to Life
2. Right to be free from inhuman or degrading treatment
3. Right to respect for private and family life
4. Right to an education
There is still a long way to go but the Human Rights Act offers a framework for ensuring that the rights of an older or disabled person can be balanced against the rights of the carer.  What is now needed is proper guidance from the government that will help prevent legal challenge and ensure that services are delivered in line with the Act's principles.  This means the needs of everyone should be considered in deciding whether (and how) to provide a service and the individual should be placed at the heart of the process.
For more information see: www.carersuk.org/Getinvolved/Spotlightonhumanrights  

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Direct Payments

A direct payment is money Social Services can give you.  It is a different  way of getting the support you need.  We give you the money instead of a service and you spend the money on getting the support you need.  This means that you are in charge, you choose what services to use, when to use them and who you get them from.

Most people who use social care services from the council could get a direct payment.  Your Social Worker or Care Manager will talk to you about direct payments when they look at what care you need.  If you do not want one you will not be made to have a direct payment.

Things you need to get a direct payment:
o you must have a back account, if you don't have one now it is easy to set one up
o you will need to write down how you spend your direct payment

Support can mean different things.  It could be:
o support with personal things like having a bath, washing or getting dressed.
o support to live in your own house e.g. help with cooking or cleaning the house
o being able to attend a day centre or receive support from a community team
o enabling you to get out and about in line with your assessed needs
o support for a short break

We have direct payments advisors to help people use direct payments.

Please note that the Royal Borough will start to use Individual Budgets for people using services in 2009.  More information will be available on this in the New Year.

For more information speak to your Social Worker or Care Manager.  In order to receive direct payments it is still necessary for the carer to complete a  Carer's Assessment.

Please follow the link for additional information on Direct Payments.

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Our Key Principles

In the Royal Borough of Windsor & Maidenehad it is agreed to:

Dignity and Respect:

• acknowledge all carers as experts and ensure involvement i) at time of diagnosis, ii) discharge planning, iii) GP support, iv) care provision
• ensure that dignity and respect are an integral part of service development & delivery
• support and protect all adults from abuse and neglect through pro-active multi-agency working
• recognise carers needs and knowledge in primary care 
• enable carers to have a life of their own alongside their caring role
• sustain a family unit which avoids children taking on an inappropriate caring role
• inform carers of their right to a carers assessment
• promote carers rights and available services through Carers Week, Carers Rights Day.

Choice and Control::

• increase take up of personalised / individualised budgets and direct payments
• help carers decide on whether or not to take on or continue the caring role
• empower through greater choice and control of support services taking into account rights to training, work, leisure and daily activities
• develop of option for self-assessment of own needs
• increase review processes
• use advocacy and mediation services
• promote Caring with Confidence training programme

Promoting Independence and Preventing Dependency:

• have range of accessible information in variety of formats
• provide services that promote health and wellbeing and provide a range of specific services for those requiring additional support
• increase access to and use of telecare systems
• provide support to access a range of day opportunities
• increase provision of different kinds of carer breaks, respite and flexible alternative services
• provide carers training to support the caring role
• use emergency planning in all care plans
• provide support to stay mentally and physically well and treated with dignity

Joint Commissioning:

• work in partnership with carers, carers groups and their representatives to develop timely & effective services
• provide joint holistic services by health and social care
• increase use and support of the third sector and social enterprise service providers who are able to offer carer services
• ensure effective delivery of national carers strategies and local carers priorities
• expand NHS services to increase provision of carer breaks
• work in partnership with Disabled Children's Team to identify needs of parent cares and improve transition process
• improve identification of young carers in partnership with health, GP's, school nurses, children's/adult's social care, education
• improve the support received by young carers across all agencies

Economic Well-being and Sustainability:

• provide information on benefits for carers and ensure specialist support is available
• provide concessions on key community services for carers i.e. leisure and transport
• work with employers and partners to enable carers to remain in employment or return to work
• ensure access to Jobcentre Plus carer-specific training programme
• promote use of national 'Good practice guide for employers'

Effective Commissioning and Procurement:

• ensure that services to carers are of a high quality
• develop of emergency respite services
• encourage local market for a range of services so that carers/people using services can have a wide range of service providers
• support external service providers to create a strong, varied, flexible market in social care and health

Equality of Access

• recognise and value carers diverse needs and backgrounds
• provide befriending, advocacy and support to enable people to access local services
• improve carers social networks to reduce social isolation and improve community integration
• provideone stop approach to access information & services
• ensure services for carers are outcome focused
• minimise the cost of caring through partnership work

Workforce Development

• increase capability of social care staff to ensure people have the skills and support needed to deliver effective services to achieve personal outcomes for service users
• train of staff to enable greater understanding of needs of carers assessments/reviews
• encourage staff innovation and new ways of working in order to optimise capacity of resources
• update workforce planning in line with national guidance e.g. personalisation, to ensure practices are reflective of national strategies
• develop shared approaches to service development and training to disseminate best practice
• involve voluntary sector agencies in assisting with self-assessment procedure
• involve carers with professional training programme
• support continuous professional development of staff in the health and social care sector with shared training opportunities
  

 

Mental Capacity Act 2005

On April 1st 2007 the Mental Capacity Act will come into force, and it will provide a statutory framework for assessing whether a person has capacity to make decisions for themselves, and it also sets out how others may make decisions on behalf of those people who do not have the capacity to make their own decisions. 

The Act will apply to everyone who in the course of caring for someone micht have to make a decieion for someone who lacks capacity to make that decision for themselves.  This includes informal carers such as family members. 

The attached document provides a guide to the Act for Carers.

•   Mental Capacity Act 2005 Guide to Carers, 99kb

•   Mental Capacity Act - Guide for people needing help. PDF 476kb