Parent carer needs assessment guidance

We recognise the important role played by parents and carers of children and young people with a disability, and fully support their right to a carer’s assessment.

Parents or carers of a disabled child under the age of 18 have a legal right to an assessment of their own needs. Children’s Services use the assessment to decide what services might be provided to parents or carers looking after a disabled child.

There is no single definition of the term ‘carer’ in the legislation. A carer is generally considered to be someone who is not contractually employed to provide care and who provides or intends to provide “a substantial amount of care on a regular basis for another individual”. This can also include a friend or other family member, for example siblings, who are often referred to as ‘Young Carers’.

How can I get a parent carer assessment?

A representative from the Swindon Carers Centre will work with you to complete the assessment.

They will:

• enable you to communicate your thoughts and opinions
• listen carefully to what you have to say
• support you to write your views on the assessment form
• enable you to involve or include other important people in your life in the assessment if you want to
• involve other professionals and organisations in the assessment, if that is what you want
• enable you to consider your support needs

With your permission the assessment can take into account the views of other relevant professionals or people who may know the family.

The assessment can consider:

• the partnership arrangements, if any, between parent carers, any additional parent carer responsibilities for the wider family, and other contributions from other family members to the caring tasks
• routine tasks which each carer undertakes including personal care, washing, dressing, feeding and laundry, and the span of these throughout the day and night
• the degree to which caring has a bearing now and in the foreseeable future, on the emotional and physical health and well-being of the carer, on family relationships and leisure opportunities, education or training and in expressing their faith
• what services the person hopes to achieve that will benefit the disabled child which would also serve to improve their own quality of life

The Swindon Carers Centre is an independent charity established to support carers in Swindon. Their Parent Carer Team work in partnership with Children’s Services, Adult Social Care as well as NHS and other local voluntary organisations to provide the most relevant support for your caring situation.

By helping parents complete a Parent Carer Assessment, they are able to provide emotional support, information and access to activities, as well as sign posting to other services and agencies. There is no cost for the service to any parent who is resident in Swindon.

Where an assessment has been completed, the parent carer will be provided with a written record of the assessment.

What are the benefits of having a parent carer assessment?

The Parent Carer Support Workers at the Swindon Carers Centre can:

• offer home visits to talk through your situation face to face, or arrange another convenient location
• provide emotional and practical support
• advise you of your rights as a carer
• be on the end of a phone for you to talk things through
• be a source of information on local services and how they could help you
• help you if you are experiencing problems with services
• help with accessing various funding and grant giving bodies
• help you to access other services available within the Swindon Carers Centre, including support for young carers
• link you to our own carer groups or those run by other organisations

The information in the Parent Carer Assessment can be taken into account when the local authority is deciding on the support that might be offered to the family following the completion of an Early Help Record or a Social Care statutory assessment.

Contacts

The Swindon Carers Centre
Swindon Advice and Support Centre
Sanford Street
Swindon
SN1 1QH

Telephone: 01793 531133
E-mail: carers@swindoncarers.org.uk

Useful resources

Carers UK have developed a carer’s assessment guide. The guide lists examples of some of the services which could be offered following the assessment.