Currently, Local Authorities have a duty to assess a carer’s ability to care through an assessment and have the power to provide support where necessary. NHS Boards can also be required to publish a Carer Information Strategy setting out how carers will be informed on their right to request an assessment.

The Carers (Scotland) Act 2016 will come into being on 1 April 2018. The Act is designed to support the health and wellbeing of carers by placing a duty on Local Authorities to provide support for carers. It will replace the current assessment with an Adult Carer Support Plan which will identify care needs and personal outcomes.

The Adult Carer Support Plan will include information about:

• the personal circumstances of the carer
• the nature and extent of the care provided
• the impact on the carer’s day to day life and wellbeing
• the extent the carer is able and willing to provide care
• the carer’s personal outcomes and support needs
• the available support in the carer’s local area
• whether support should be a break from caring
• whether the support meets the local eligibility criteria

Each Local Authority will require to have an information and advice service for carers which should provide them with information and advice to carers on emergency and future care planning, advocacy and carers’ rights (as well as income maximisation, education and training, health and wellbeing, and bereavement support for carers).

Currently, Integrated Health and Social Care Partnerships are preparing the way for the implementation of the Act.

Until then, all carers have the right to a carer assessment, which can be requested from your GP or social worker if the person you care for is receiving social care.

SDS is a new approach to social care that gives you and your family choice about where, when and how you are supported by working out a budget that you use to buy the services that you need.

To get SDS, Social Services will assess the needs of the person you care for. If you can keep a record of daily needs or give examples of how you might use the support of a personal assistant, it will help Social Services construct a more realistic budget.

SDS encompasses four options:

• Option One: Direct Payment (using your budget to employ a Personal Assistant directly). This is the most cost effective option but requires you to recruit and manage care input.
• Option Two: Individual Service Fund. Social Services hold your Fund and you instruct them on what to book and whom to pay.
• Option Three: Arranged Service. Social Services organise and pay for the support but consult you.
• Option Four: Combined Support. A combination of any, or all, of the above., Respect, Responsibility

This was a new legal rights project, set up in 2017 and run by MECOPP. It assisted individuals with social care support needs to realise new rights and entitlements conferred on them by the Social Care (Self-directed Support) (Scotland) Act 2013.

Attendance Allowance, or Personal Independence Payment benefits, might give you the option of booking one to three hours of companionship care from an agency such as Crossroads.