Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what proportion of identified carers in England have been assessed by their local authority under the terms of the Care Act 2014.

Local authorities carried out 255,750 carer assessments in 2015/16, following the Care Act coming into force in April 2015. This figure represents around two-thirds of the total number of carers identified by local authorities in England (386,910) in that year.

The diversity of caring roles – and the impact that caring might have on the carer - means that not every carer will want or need an assessment; and not every carer will want or need formal support through local adult care services.

The forthcoming national Carers Strategy will therefore take a wide view of carers and their caring roles. Crucial to this will be increasing public awareness of caring, in order to improve timely identification, ensure carers are aware of the range of support available to them, and can take advantage of that which best meets their needs.