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Recommendations marked * appear to require legislative change.
1. Carers should be regarded by other caring bodies (eg, NHS and local authority Social Work Departments) as key partners in providing care.
2. Support to carers in their caring role to be treated as resources provided to help them continue their caring role, not services to clients.
3. Carers should not be required to contribute to the cost of support or other resources which help them to continue caring.
4. Guidance should make clear how disagreements between carers and cared-for people over assessments or services should be resolved, whilst respecting the rights of the cared-for person.
5.* New legislation should provide for carers to continue to be treated as carers for a limited period after their caring ends, eg, 8 weeks in line with existing rules on eligibility for Carer Premium and the UK Government's intention to allow Invalid Care Allowance to be extended for up to 8 weeks after the caring role has ended.
6. Scottish Executive to pursue with the Health Education Board for Scotland how carers could be incorporated into future health-related campaigns.
7.* New legislation should require local authorities to provide information to carers about their rights and available support.
8. Local authorities and NHSScotland should routinely include information on benefits, entitlements, and the statutory rights of carers in information offered to carers.
9. Guidance should stress the importance of agencies offering information in carers' own language and in accessible formats.
10.* Scottish Executive to consider the case for a statutory duty on NHSScotland to identify carers, offer them information, and refer them on as appropriate.
11. The issues surrounding the identification of hidden carers should be explored further, preferably through the currently proposed UK-wide forum, or under the guidance of a separate Scottish Group if necessary.
12.* New legislation should contain a right for carers to receive an assessment in their own right.
13.* New legislation should place a duty on local authorities to offer carers an assessment
14. Guidance should spell out and emphasise the nature of an assessment of a carer, and how it differs from an assessment of the needs of a cared-for person.
15. Guidance should promote the development of more holistic approaches to assessment, including promoting family-based assessments, and self-assessment by carers.
16. Guidance on assessment should encourage the recognition of work-related issues for carers, and the reflection of these where appropriate in the support package.
17. The Executive should consider whether existing legislation provides adequate rights to parent carers, or whether the enhanced rights under new carers legislation should be extended to them.
18.* New legislation should clarify if necessary the right of carers younger than 16 to receive an assessment, subject to appropriate provision for parental involvement.
19. Guidance should underline the importance of minimum intervention in assessments for young carers, promoting family-based assessments where possible, but recognising where this is not feasible, for example, where family members do not wish to co-operate.
20. Existing guidance on the need to involve health authorities and other relevant agencies in the assessment process should be reinforced.
21. Professionals involved in the assessment process should communicate and liaise closely in order to avoid multiple assessments and minimise disruption to the individuals being assessed.
22. The assessment process should identify the full range of support needs of the carer, and should not be constrained by the services currently available.
23. Staff carrying out assessments of carers should be fully trained in the issues faced by carers, and assessments should be conducted in a way that empowers the carer and provides full feedback at all stages.
24. The Scottish Executive should consider the case for a statutory right or entitlement to short breaks in defined circumstances, to ensure carers can continue to care.
25. The existing guidance to statutory agencies on provision of short breaks / respite care should be revised and re-launched to reflect the Carers Strategy and other recent policy developments.
26. Guidance should emphasise the value of advocacy support to carers.
27. Guidance should stress the importance of ensuring information, assessment processes and other resources are sensitive to the needs of carers from black and ethnic minorities, which should be planned in discussion with representatives of carers from these communities.
28. Guidance should take full account of the particular needs and circumstances of carers in rural areas, and should be developed in discussion with representatives of rural carers.
29. The gap between carers' identified needs and the support they receive should be routinely recorded by authorities carrying out assessments, and carers and their representatives should be closely involved in the work of the Data Standards Project in deciding how to define and measure unmet need.
30. The Executive should consider whether legislative change is needed to give parent carers of disabled children and 16 and 17 year old disabled children rights to direct payments to purchase care.
31. The Executive should consider whether there is a role for voucher schemes for short break services in order to facilitate breaks for carers, and if so, should pursue necessary legislative changes.
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