25.Section 8 amends the Carers (Scotland) Act 2016 to ensure that carers get the support that they need to take sufficient breaks. Subsections (12) to (15) of section 8 make changes to other statutes in consequence of the changes made to the Carers Act.
26.Subsections (2) and (4) ensure that being able to take sufficient breaks is an “identified personal outcome” for every carer. (What is meant by a carer taking a break is addressed by subsection (11).) They also ensure that where a carer is unable to take such breaks, the need for support to do so is an “identified need” of the carer. (See sections 4 and 5, as read with sections 8 and 14, of the Carers Act.)
27.Subsection (8) places a new duty on local authorities to provide the support that a carer needs to enable the carer to take sufficient breaks. Subsections (6) and (7) ensure that this duty is not subject to local or national eligibility criteria.
28.Subsection (9) confers on the Scottish Ministers a new power, and a duty to exercise it, to make further provision by regulations in connection with the support to be provided to a carer under the new duty. The regulations may, for example, make provision about what is meant by the expression “sufficient breaks”. This replaces a more limited power in section 25(2) of the Carers Act. Regulations under this replacement power are subject to the affirmative procedure (see section 42(2)(h) of the Carers Act).
29.The new duty applies where the support that a carer needs cannot be met by the services or assistance referred to in paragraphs (a) or (b) of section 24(1) of the Carers Act. Although paragraph (a) refers to services or assistance provided to the cared-for person, this does not include any such care provided in order to enable the carer to take a break. By virtue of paragraph (b), where the need for support can be met by services or assistance provided generally to persons in the area where the carer resides, then that support will not need to be provided under the new duty.
30.Subsections (3) and (5) ensure that every adult carer support plan and every young carer statement under the Carers Act (see sections 9 and 15 of that Act) includes information about the support provided, or to be provided, to meet any identified need for support to enable the carer to take sufficient breaks.
31.Subsection (10) ensures that local carer strategies under section 31 of the Carers Act must set out plans to promote a variety of providers of support to relevant carers, and to promote the variety of support provided. Local authorities are already required to promote these things under section 19(2) of the Social Care (Self-directed Support) (Scotland) Act 2013. In addition, this subsection ensures that local carer strategies take account of the support needed to enable relevant carers to take breaks from providing care (see also section 25(5) of the Carers Act).
Overview of the Act Overview of Part 2 Rights to breaks for carers