Carers (Scotland) Act 2016: implementation plan 2021-2023 (March 2021)

Implementing the Carers (Scotland) Act 2016

Roles and Responsibilities

The Act came into force on 1 April 2018. Many individuals and organisations across Scotland worked together in producing the new legislation, guidance, systems and tools to raise awareness of the Act and support authorities in meeting their duties towards carers.

The Act represents a significant change. Many different factors remain important to help achieve that change. Local authorities, Integration Joint Boards and Health Boards now have legal duties and have put systems and services in place to support carers. Many of the frontline services which provide information and support to carers are provided by third sector carers centres on behalf of local authorities and integration authorities. Meaningful improvements in outcomes for carers will continue to depend on actions and effective partnership working across a wide range of organisations, including all those represented on the Implementation Steering Group. We have shared interests in improving support to carers.

Organisations represented on the Implementation Steering Group have agreed to use their influence to support delivery of this implementation plan by:

• collaborating and supporting one another to deliver the actions in the plan;
• listening to one another and aiming to find common ground on what can be done and on what can be achieved;
• working in a transparent way, sharing our views and conclusions;
• working to the governance arrangements agreed by the group.

Pace of change

It is taking time to embed new approaches to supporting carers. We want to accelerate the pace of that change while managing the risks and recognising other pressures on the system. These pressures include ongoing impacts of COVID-19 and the EU Exit, both of which may affect capacity at local and national level.

We recognise that implementation of the Act takes place in a challenging landscape for all the organisations and individuals involved. We will continue to work together and keep the situation under review, particularly in the context of monitoring and evaluation.

Structure of this plan

This plan is structured around 6 key priorities. For each priority, the plan sets out specific outcomes, recognises particular challenges, highlights intersections and dependencies with other areas and identifies specific actions.

Outcomes

This plan includes short, medium term and longer term outcomes, which have been drawn from different sources.

Some are drawn from the pre-commencement Carers Act Implementation Plan, which set out outcomes to be jointly owned by all partners.^[3] Where those outcomes remain key to successful implementation they are incorporated here.

Some longer term outcomes are drawn from a key outcomes framework for the Carers Act which was developed via the Monitoring and Evaluation Group using a logic model approach. That framework is also attached at appendix 1.