Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to (a) identify and (b) support (i) hidden and (ii) unpaid family carers who (A) are and (B) are not engaged with formal care systems.

Local authorities have duties to support people caring for their family and friends. The Care Act 2014 requires local authorities to deliver a wide range of sustainable, high-quality care and support services, including support for carers. Local authorities are required to undertake Carer’s Assessments to support people caring for their family and friends who appear to have a need for support, and to meet their eligible needs upon request from them.

The Department works with the sector and partners to deliver an annual programme of universal and targeted support to local authorities and their partners. This includes the Partners in Care and Health (PCH) contract.

PCH’s work to support sector partners includes a workstream dedicated to supporting local authorities’ work with unpaid carers. This workstream includes work to identify and support unpaid carers, with a particular focus on identifying those from ethnic minority communities and those who are least likely to self-identify as a carer.