Commentary on Parts Part 4 – Carer Involvement Section 30 - Care assessments: duty to take account of care and views of carers
93.This section makes consequential amendments to section 12A of the 1968 Act and section 23 of the 1995 Act, which concern assessments of people in need of community care services and of children affected by disability respectively. The amendments require the authority preparing such assessments to take into account the care which is provided, or to be provided by any carer. Where the carer has an adult carer support plan or young carer statement, that care is to be identified by reference to the information contained in the plan or statement.
94.This section also inserts a new subsection (1B) into section 12A of the 1968 Act and a new subsection (6) into section 23 of the 1995 Act. Those new subsections require the local authority to take into account the views of the carer, so far as it is reasonable and practicable to do so, when determining the needs of the person being assessed and deciding what services to provide and how to provide them. These new subsections replace narrower obligations about taking a carer’s views into account in the current assessment provisions.