The Community Care and Health (Scotland) Act 2002 extends the existing statutory obligations on local authorities to support carers.

The Community Care and Health (Scotland) Act 2002 requires local authorities to inform carers that they may be entitled to an assessment and extends carers rights to an assessment of their ability to care at any time if:

• they provide, or intend to provide, a substantial amount of care on a regular basis for another person

• the person they care for is over 18 and is eligible for community care services under the Social Work (Scotland) Act 1968

• the person they care for is under 18 and is eligible for children’s services under the Children (Scotland) Act 1995

• they are young carers under the age of 16.

In addition Section 8 of the Act amends Section 12A of the 1968 Act by adding two new steps into the process of assessing and deciding on services for adults in need of community care services.

• Once the needs of the person being cared for have been assessed the authority must take into account the care already being provided by any substantial and regular carer before deciding what services may need to be provided.

• The authority must also take into account the views of the cared–for person and their carer, as far as this is reasonable and practicable.

Section 10 of the Act introduces a similar requirement for carers of children with disabilities by inserting a new subsection (4) in Section 23 of the 1995 Act.

Further information about carer assessments is also available.