(a) Scottish Carers' Legislation Working Group Report Summary

(i) There are about 500,000 carers in Scotland, 5,000 of whom are young carers.

(ii) The Institute of Actuaries report "Financing Long-Term Care in Great Britain" valued the care provided by carers across the UK to be around £34 billion per year (1993 figure)

(iii) The main body of the report is titled "A New Vision for Carers in Scotland", and this is clearly the intention of the report: "We believe the time is right to reinforce the legislative recognition and rights provided for carers. Our recommendations are intended to help achieve this". The report also defines the current legislative position for carers.

(iv) The Group's "most fundamental conclusion" is that carers should be recognised as key partners in the provision of care, and given equal status with other providers of care.

(v) The Group believe it necessary that the Government and Executive act to protect the interests of carers, seeking to foster a climate where people can care for others without jeopardising their health, financial security, or quality of life.

(vi) Carers need resources

(vii) Awareness of the right to an assessment of need must be improved.

(viii) Carers should have a right to assessment in all circumstances, even where the cared-for person does not want an assessment themselves. These should not be on a personal basis, but should seek to establish how the core needs of the cared-for person are to be met.

(ix) The process of assessment for a carer should be a process whereby the carer and other agencies agree the proportion of care to be provided by each other, other resources needed by the carer are identified, and contingency plans are arranged to cover for non availability of the carer.

(x) It is important to recognise that the needs of carers are not regarded as inherently subordinate to the needs of the cared-for.

(xi) The need to publicise the support available for carers is emphasised, with the Health Education Board for Scotland noted as a possible forum to include carers in future health-related campaigns.

(xii) Staff working within the NHS are best placed to identify carers and thus to provide them with information and signpost them to further support.

(xiii) Significant hurdles currently exist for carers from ethnic minority backgrounds, particularly for those who do not have English as a first language.

(xiv) The special difficulties for carers in rural areas deserve attention.

(b) Issues for Consultation

(i) Whether carers should be recognised as partners in care. Comments are invited on whether carers need resources separate from those allocated to the cared for person; what resources they would need; and whether carers should be charged for resources provided to them.

(ii) Whether former carers should continue to be recognised as carers for a period after the caring period ends, and which type of support they are likely to need at that point.

(iii) If carers should be entitled to an assessment of needs by the local authority in their own right, whether a legal duty on local authorities to do such an assessment be useful, and what the most effective way of increasing carers' use of support may be.