Under the new Care Bill, the Government is giving carers the same rights to an assessment and care services from local authorities as the people they care for. This is great news. However, parent carers are not included as the Bill currently only covers adult carers of adults and young carers.
The Government says that existing provisions under Section 17 of the Children Act 1989 are sufficient. That parent carers’ needs will be assessed when the needs of the child are assessed (ie. during initial referral assessments for the child, or as part of the social care Core Assessment of the child).
We don’t think that this happens in practice; parent carers do not receive assessments or support in their own right as carers.
We need evidence to show the Government how important it is that parent carers are included in these new rights for carers.
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