My Lords, I thank my noble friend Lady Wheeler for the clear way in which she set out her concerns about these regulations and her tenacity in pursuing this issue. I want to comment on two parts that are of particular interest to carers: first, the delegation of assessments and, secondly, concerns about charging carers. The Minister will know that I have always warmly welcomed the Care Act, which showed a hugely significant development for carers, giving them the clearest rights ever to an assessment of their caring role.
Although it is already possible for local authorities to delegate the carrying out of a carer’s assessment, from April they will be able to delegate the carrying
out of the assessment and, for the first time, the decision on whether the carer is eligible for support. This is a significant change and local authorities are considering whether to delegate their assessments in future. I have a number of concerns about this. Considering a carer’s assessment in isolation from the assessment of the person they are caring for will make it difficult for those making eligibility decisions to consider the family’s situation in the round—as my noble friend has reminded us—and is unlikely in my view to result in the best outcomes being identified for that family or the right action taken to achieve these outcomes. Moreover, the complaints and appeals system will be at arm’s length from the local authority, making it more difficult for families to get redress if they have complaints about the way in which an assessment is carried out or the decision made on eligibility. What measures have the Government put in place to avoid or mitigate these unintended consequences of delegating carers’ assessments? I stress that I understand that they are unintended consequences.
I am also concerned about charging carers for services. The Care Act retains the current power allowing local authorities to charge for services provided to carers. It also confers a new power to charge carers for arranging services for them if they request the local authority to do so. Currently very few local authorities charge for carers’ services but, with increasing pressures on budgets and the new duty to provide services to carers, we know that some local authorities are considering charging carers for the first time, perhaps not surprisingly. This would be an unintended and very unwelcome consequence of the new legislation. I recognise that the Government have further strengthened the statutory guidance on charging carers, but I am still concerned that the Care Act will result in an increase in the number of local authorities which make charges for services to carers. Perhaps I do not need to remind the House, because I have done it so often, that carers contribute a huge amount often at a great personal cost as caring has a negative impact on their finances, their health and well-being and opportunities to engage in work, leisure and education. That figure that I always quote is that carers save the Exchequer £119 billion. Charging a carer for support to meet their needs, often in order to help them to continue caring, risks being counterproductive by preventing carers from accessing services and may even discourage carers from seeking support. The adoption of charging policies might very well result in additional—not fewer—costs to local authorities. A carer and the person they are looking after—sometimes they look after more than one—may not have the same income. In many cases, carers have given up work or live on a reduced income as a result of their caring responsibilities, so will the Government commit to monitor the extent to which local authorities are charging for services provided to carers and publish the results as part of their evaluation of the impact of the Care Act? We should all bear in mind that this could have consequences way beyond the initial discomfort for the carer, in that many carers may then choose not to take up the caring role. I will be glad of the Minister’s response.