Carers (Scotland) Act 2016: consultation on draft regulations

Consultation on Draft Regulations

Scottish Statutory Instruments - The Carers (Scotland) Act 2016 (Review of Adult Carer Support Plans and Young Carer Statements) Regulations 2017

Questions

The Carers (Scotland) Act 2016 (Review of Adult Carer Support Plans and Young Carer Statements) Regulations 2017

Review of adult carer support plans

Section 10(a)

Intention of this draft regulation

To set out the specific circumstances in which an adult carer support plan must be reviewed.

An adult carer support plan is the combination of identification of a carer's personal outcomes, an assessment of a carer's need for support to help them achieve their personal outcomes and the preparation of a support plan to monitor the need and manage the administration of support to a carer. The local authority of the cared-for person is responsible for offering a carer an adult carer support plan and agreeing when and how the adult carer support plan conversation is to take place. The requirements for an adult carer support plan are set out in the Carers Act (with guidance to be issued to support local areas). Each plan must contain, amongst other things, information about the nature and impact of the caring role, the extent to which the carer is able and willing to provide care and whether the carer has arrangements in place for the future. Local authorities will be under a duty to offer an adult carer support plan to anyone identified as an adult carer and also to prepare such a plan for any other adult carer who requests one.

It is the intention that information contained in the adult carer support plan will be kept up to date and relevant. This is to ensure that the adult carer's needs for support are reviewed when a material change in circumstance occurs and results in a change in the caring role.

Questions

1) The circumstances in which plans must be reviewed are specified in regulation 2 of the draft Carers (Scotland) Act 2016 (Review of Adult Carer Support Plans and Young Carer Statements) Regulations 2017. It will be for the responsible local authority to decide whether to review an adult carer support plan in other circumstances not specified in the draft regulations.

The draft regulations specify the following circumstances in which an adult carer support plan must be reviewed:

a) The cared-for person moves to live in a different local authority area;

b) The adult carer moves to live in a different local authority area;

c) The cared-for person moves into various listed types of long-term residential care;

d) Any other change in the adult carer or cared-for person's circumstances which, in the view of the local authority, has had a material impact on the care provided by the adult carer to the cared-for person.

Do you agree with the circumstances listed in the draft regulation?

Yes / No

Comments

2) We recognise that there are many other "material" changes which can affect an individual's caring role and needs for support. The above circumstances have been identified through informal consultation as circumstances where a "material" change will take place in the adult carer's life or the circumstances of the cared-for person which can be expected to affect the caring role. It would be unfeasible and unhelpful to attempt to cover all such circumstances in regulations, which need to allow for local professional judgement. Forthcoming statutory guidance will assist responsible local authorities in deciding when to undertake a review.

Are there additional circumstances not listed in the draft regulations that should be specified as always triggering a review of an adult carer support plan?

Yes / No

Comments

3) In particular, we are interested in views about whether it would be helpful for the discharge of the cared-for person from hospital (as at section 28 of the Carers Act) to be added as another circumstance that requires the review of an adult carer support plan.

People's care needs can change following a spell in hospital, but not always and some people may have a number of spells hospital over a short period of time. In such cases, a requirement to review an adult carer support plan after each hospital discharge would seem an unnecessary burden on both the responsible local authority and the carer. On that basis it would seem appropriate to address this in statutory guidance rather than regulations to allow scope for local judgement based on the circumstances of individual cases.

Is the suggested approach outlined above appropriate, with regard to review of an adult carer support plan following the discharge of the cared-for person from hospital?

Yes / No

Comments

4) Are there particular circumstances surrounding the discharge of the cared-for person from hospital (as at Section 28 of the Carers Act) that should always trigger a review of an adult carer support plan ( e.g. based on the duration of the hospital stay, or changes in the care needs of the cared-for person post-discharge)? Please provide details of any suggested circumstances.

Yes / No

Comments

Review of young carer statements

Section 16(a)

Intention of this draft regulation

To set out the specific circumstances in which a young carer statement must be reviewed.

A young carer statement is a combination of an assessment of a young carer's needs for support, the establishment of their personal outcomes and the preparation of a support plan. The young carer's local authority is normally responsible for offering a young carer statement and agreeing when and how the young carer statement conversation is to take place. In certain circumstances it may be another responsible authority which has charge of preparing the young carer statement. The requirements for a young carer statement are set out in the Carers Act (with guidance to be issued to support local areas). Each plan must contain, amongst other things, information about the nature and impact of the caring role, the extent to which the young carer is able and willing to provide care and whether he or she has arrangements in place for the future. Responsible authorities will be under a duty to offer a young carer statement to anyone identified as a young carer and also to prepare such a statement for any young carer who requests one.

It is the intention that information contained in the young carer statement will be kept up to date and relevant. This is to ensure that the young carer's needs for support are reviewed when a material change in circumstance occurs and results in a change in the caring role.

Questions

5) The circumstances in which a young carer statement must be reviewed are specified in regulation 3 of the draft Carers (Scotland) Act 2016 (Review of Adult Carer Support Plans and Young Carer Statements) Regulations 2017. It will be for the responsible authority to decide whether to review a young carer statement in other circumstances not specified in the draft regulations.

The circumstances in which a young carer statement must be reviewed are:

a) The cared-for person moves to live in a different local authority area;

b) The young carer moves to live in a different health board or local authority area;

c) A young carer at a state school outwith the local authority area where they live leaves that school and moves school to a third local authority area;

d) The young carer, if a pupil at a grant-aided or independent school leaves the school;

e) The cared-for person moves into various types of long-term residential accommodation;

f) Any other change in the young carer or cared-for person's circumstances which, in the view of the responsible authority, has had a material impact on the care provided by the young carer to the cared-for person.

Do you agree with the circumstances listed in the draft regulation?

Yes / No

Comments

6) There are many other "material" changes which can affect an individual's caring role and needs for support. These have been identified through informal consultation as circumstances where a "material" change will take place in the young carer's life or the circumstances of the cared-for person which will likely affect the caring role. It would be unfeasible and unhelpful to attempt to cover all such circumstances in regulations, which need to allow for local professional judgement based on the regulations and associated statutory guidance. Forthcoming statutory guidance will assist responsible authorities in deciding when to trigger a review.

Are there any circumstances not listed in the draft regulations that should always trigger a review of the young carer statement (apart from transition of the young carer from children's services to adult services)?

Yes / No

Comments

7) In particular, we are interested in views about whether it would be helpful for the discharge of the cared-for person from hospital (as at section 28 of the Carers Act) to be added as another circumstance that requires the review of a young carer statement.

People's care needs can change following a spell in hospital, but not always and some people can may have a number of spells hospital over a short period of time. In such cases, a requirement to review a young carer statement after each hospital discharge would seem an unnecessary burden on both the authority and young carer. On that basis it would seem appropriate to address this in statutory guidance rather than regulations to allow scope for local judgement based on the circumstances of individual cases.

Is the suggested approach outlined above appropriate with regard to review of a young carer statement following the discharge of the cared-for person from hospital?

Yes / No

Comments

8) Are there particular circumstances surrounding the discharge of the cared-for person from hospital that should always trigger a review of a young carer statement ( e.g. based on the duration of the hospital stay, or changes in the care needs of the cared-for person post-discharge)? Please provide details of any suggested circumstances.

Yes / No

Comments

Scottish Statutory Instruments - The Carers (Scotland) Act 2016 (Short Breaks Services Statements) Regulations 2017

The Carers (Scotland) Act 2016 (Short Breaks Services Statements) Regulations 2017

Short breaks services statements

Section 35(4)

Intention of this draft regulation

To clarify what type of information is to be included in short breaks services statements, and to set out when and how these are to be published and reviewed.

Section 35 of the Carers Act sets out the duty for local authorities to prepare and publish a short breaks services statement. A short break services statement is a statement of information about the short break services available to carers and cared-for persons across Scotland. Such statements must be accessible ( e.g., languages other than English, large-print, etc.), and be proportionate to the needs of carers and cared-for persons.

The draft regulations specify that short breaks services statements must include:

• A statement about their purpose - which we would propose to explain in guidance is to help carers and cared for persons understand their options when deciding about short breaks; and
• Contact details for those responsible for the statement.

The draft regulations also specify that the first short breaks services statements should be published by 31 December 2018, to allow time for them to be prepared, consulted on etc.

And they require that the views of carers and carer representatives must be taken into account when preparing or reviewing the short breaks services statement.

We would also propose to use statutory guidance to encourage local authorities to consider case studies and examples of existing short breaks services, as an effective way to help carers and cared-for persons to better understand the different types of short breaks and their benefits.

Questions

9) Do the draft regulations (alongside the Carers Act) provide an adequate requirement for the preparation, publication and review of short breaks services statements?

Yes / No

Comments

10) Do you agree with the information that the Carers Act and the draft regulations require to be included in a short breaks services statement? Please use the comments box to explain why if you are suggesting that additional information should be included.

Yes / No

Comments

Regulation-making Powers not Proceeding at this time

Breaks from caring

Section 25(2)(a)

Section 24 of the Carers Act establishes a duty for local authorities to provide support to carers whose need for support meets the local eligibility criteria. It also provides local authorities with a power to support carers to meet other needs which are not assessed as eligible needs. Section 25 requires local authorities to consider whether any support that is to be provided should include or take the form of a break from caring.

We had intended to use the regulatory power at section 25 to make it clear that a 'break from caring' may include certain types of support to enable carers to benefit from leisure pursuits, either at home ( e.g. financial assistance to purchase gardening equipment, a camera, or musical instrument); or away from the home ( e.g. help to visit the cinema, fund gym membership or photography lessons).

However, things like equipment or leisure club memberships, which can be legitimate to include in a package of support for a carer to meet their assessed personal outcomes, are forms of support that can already be offered to a carer in exercise of the general duty, or power, to support carers at section 24(4) of the Act. They are not forms of support that constitute or facilitate the break itself from caring which is what the scope of the power in section 25(2)(a) provides for. We therefore do not propose that regulations will be made to specify the form of support that may be provided as a break (itself) from caring.

We instead propose to use statutory guidance ‎on the duty and power to provide support to carers under section 24 to provide advice on the value of enabling carers to benefit from leisure pursuits as part of a package of support to meet their assessed personal outcomes.

Questions

11) Do you agree with the approach summarised above to cover support for breaks from caring and short breaks services under statutory guidance? Please explain the reasons for your answer.

Yes / No

Comments