If you look after a relative, disabled child or friend and caring has a major impact in your life, then a carers assessment could help you.

If your caring role is “regular and substantial”, you have rights under the Carers Acts.

In Leicester City, the Council interprets “regular and substantial” as being equal to a minimum of 10 hours per week spent in giving practical assistance or supervision support to the person you are caring for.

If you are caring in this way for someone who is receiving community care services like home care, you are entitled to request an assessment of your own needs – a “carers assessment”. 

You can still have a carers assessment if the person you are caring for is not receiving any help – for example, they may have refused a community care assessment or services.

A carers assessment looks at the help you are giving at the moment. The assessment will include discussing how you might be helped to carry on caring (if this is what you want to do) - but it will also look at the wider effects that caring has on your life. This is sometimes called the ‘impact’ of caring.

Examples of some possible effects or impact of caring:

 

 

The assessment should also look at the positive side of caring, and how to help you carry on with the things you are willing to do. In some cases though, carers will think that they cannot carry on, and help will be needed to consider alternative arrangements in cooperation with the person being cared for.

As a result of having a carers assessment, you should:

 

A carers assessment is not a guarantee of getting lots of extra help – although many carers find that existing services are ‘adjusted’, or they are put in touch with new sources of advice and support. At the very least it gives you an opportunity to have your needs considered.

 

The purpose of this checklist is to help you think through the position you are in. Some carers find that they have not had the opportunity to sit down and list the key issues in their situation. This can be very useful, even though there might not be an easy solution to every problem.

 

Remember that these are only examples – many might not apply to you, and you might have other questions that are not on this list.

 

 

Contact the Adults and Housing department at Leicester City Council.

 

If the person you are caring for already has a social worker, you can get in touch with them.

 

If the person you are caring for does not have a social worker, you will need to speak to an access worker – if the person cared for has not had an assessment him/herself, it is usual for that person’s needs to be assessed either with, or separately from, those of the carer. Remember, you might be entitled to an assessment even if the person you are looking after doesn’t want an assessment.

 

In any of these situations, you can ask to see a social worker privately, away from the person you are caring for – and of course they can ask for their assessment in similar privacy.

 

The Adults and Housing Department has the legal responsibility for carrying out carers assessments. A voluntary sector organisation such as CLASP can advise you about assessments, and might provide a staff member to be present at your assessment, if you think this is necessary.

 

You should always inform a doctor or nurse involved in the care of the person you look after that you are a carer. There are limits of confidentiality that affect how much medical staff can tell you about the condition of the person you care for, but they should always consider your needs, for example, when the person you care for is coming out of hospital.