Implementing the Carers (Equal Opportunities) Act 2004
Contents
The guide topics
The guide topics have been developed with stakeholders, including carers, practitioners, managers and carers' organisations. The framework is based on sections 1, 2 and 3 of the Act. The topic areas covered were identified by stakeholders as areas of practice most useful to those responsible for implementation.
Section 1: Duty to inform carers of the right to assessment
Section 2: Assessment of carers
- Outcome-focused assessments
- Promoting access to education, training, employment and leisure
- Signposting to other agencies
- Developing local resources
Section 3: Cooperation between authorities
Topic sections
Each topic is divided into the following sections:
Key research and policy findings An accessible summary of the findings from research and policy documents.
Practice points Where appropriate, an analysis of how these findings can be translated into everyday practice.
Research and policy An overview of current research and policy, with references and some links to the original documents.
Ideas from practice Ideas and examples that show how agencies have tried to improve practice and solve problems. These have been self-reported and have not been evaluated. We are grateful to these agencies for providing us with their ideas, acknowledge that other agencies may be doing similar work and welcome other practice ideas for possible inclusion in this guide.
In 2005, the Improvement and Development Agency (IDeA) awarded beacon status to four local authorities - Hertfordshire, Rochdale, Sefton and Sunderland - for supporting carers. Contact IDeA for details of the beacon councils and further practice examples.