Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what guidance his Department has provided to local authorities on the implementation of the Care Act 2014 and the right of carers to an assessment and support.

Following consultation over last summer, we issued statutory guidance under the Care Act 2014 in October 2014, which is available at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/care-act-2014-statutory-guidance-for-implementation

The guidance covers the purpose of an assessment and outlines what local authorities must do when conducting carers’ assessments and in providing support for their eligible needs.

We have also published guidance for local authorities on a ‘whole family approach’ to assessments, which will identify any children who provide care for a member of their family and put in place appropriate support for the carer, including for a young carer. The guidance is available at:

http://www.local.gov.uk/documents/10180/5756320/The+Care+Act+and+whole+family+approaches/080c323f-e653-4cea-832a-90947c9dc00c