Section 1 : Right of carers to assessment
16.This section only applies to individuals who provide care on an informal basis (see subsection (3)).
17.Section 1(1) provides that a person who is a carer (aged 16 or over) has the right to an assessment from the local authority of his ability to provide (and to continue to provide) care for another individual (“the person cared for”). That assessment will enable the local authority to decide whether to provide services to the carer under section 2 of the Act.
18.Under section 1(1) of the Carers (Recognition and Services) Act 1995 (“the 1995 Act”) a carer has the right to an assessment of his ability to provide care for the person cared for and that assessment must be taken into account by the local authority in any decision they make about community care services for the person cared for. The effect of subsection (2) of this section is that in carrying out a carer’s assessment under subsection (1) (of this section) the local authority can take into account, so far as it considers it to be material, any assessment the carer may have had under section 1(1) of the 1995 Act.
19.The Secretary of State, or in relation to Wales, the National Assembly for Wales, may give directions as to how the local authority should carry out an assessment.