Department Of Health
The Carers (Equal Opportunities Act) 2004 Act received Royal
Assent on 22nd July 2004.
This Act came into force on 1st April 2005.
The Act makes three main changes to the existing law around
carers services.
- Section 1 places a duty on councils to inform carers, in
certain circumstances, of their right to an assessment of their
needs.
- Section 2 provides that when assessing a carer's needs,
councils must take into account whether the carer works or wishes
to work, undertakes or wishes to undertake education, training or
leisure activities.
- Section 3 facilitates co-operation between authorities in
relation to the provision of services that are relevant to
carers.
Commencement for Wales:
The Assembly is responsible for commencing the Carers (Equal
Opportunities) 2004 Act as respects Wales. The Assembly aims to
commence the Act on 18th April 2005.
Policy Guidance for the Carers (Equal Opportunities) Act:
The Department of Health closed the consultation period on the
content of policy guidance to accompany the Act in March 2005. The
final policy guidance Carers and Disabled Children Act 2000 and
Carers (Equal Opportunities) Act 2004 Combined Policy Guidance was
published in August 2005.
Read the Carers and Disabled Children Act 2000
and Carers (Equal Opportunities) Act 2004 Combined Policy
Guidance - this link will open in a new window.
Practice Guidance for the Carers (Equal Opportunities)
Act:
The Social Care Institute for Excellence has developed practice
guidance to accompany the Carers (Equal Opportunities) Act
2004.
Read the practice guidance - this link will
open in a new window.
Beacon Council Scheme for Supporting Carers:
Monday 21 March 2005 saw the announcement of the successful
Beacon Councils for Supporting Carers. The four successful councils
are:-
- Hertfordshire
- Rochdale
- Sefton
- Sunderland
They all demonstrated excellent practice in supporting carers
across the board and faced stiff competition from the five other
short listed councils ( Somerset , Surrey, Tameside, Bury and
Gloucester ) all of whom had examples of truly innovative and
excellent practice in supporting carers. The nine short listed
candidates were selected from 22 applications in total and overall
the standard was very high.
As well as working with the Improvement and Development Agency
(IDeA), to look at how their experience and best practice can be
disseminated, the successful beacon councils for supporting carers
will play a key role in feeding into the practice guidance for
carers developed by SCIE.
Over the coming months, the Department for Health will pull
together examples of good practice from all the shortlisted
applicants and will publish these on the
DH Carers
Website - this link will open in a new window.
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