The Community Care (Assessment of Needs) (Scotland) Regulations 2002

Citation, commencement and interpretation

1.—(1) These Regulations may be cited as the Community Care (Assessment of Needs) (Scotland) Regulations 2002 and shall come into force on 1st July 2002.

(2) In these Regulations, except where the context otherwise requires–

“the 1968 Act” means the Social Work (Scotland) Act 1968(1);

“the Act” means the Community Care and Health (Scotland) Act 2002;

“care” means care of a kind mentioned in paragraphs (a) to (d) of section 1(1) of the Act;

“care home service” has the meaning given by section 2(3) of the Regulation of Care (Scotland) Act 2001(2);

“relevant person” means a person mentioned in section 12A(1) of the 1968 Act who–

(i)

is in receipt of a care home service, provided or secured otherwise than by a local authority, including the provision of care and who was in receipt of that service immediately before 1st April 2002,

(ii)

has made a request (or on whose behalf a request has been made) before 1st July 2003 to the local authority for it to provide or secure provision of care to them, and

(iii)

in the case of a person in receipt of care which consists only of care of a kind mentioned in paragraphs (a), (b) or (c) of section 1(1) of the Act, is aged 65 or over.

Transitional arrangement for those receiving a care home service

2.—(1) Section 12A(1) and (2) of the 1968 Act is modified in accordance with the following paragraphs of this regulation.

(2) A local authority shall treat a relevant person as being a person who, for the purposes of section 12A(1) of the 1968 Act, may be in need of services and the duty of a local authority to make an assessment under paragraph (a) of that subsection shall not apply in respect of such a person.

(3) On the making of the request referred to in the definition of “relevant person” in regulation 1(2) and where a local authority does not intend to make an assessment of that kind, the local authority shall decide that, pending any assessment that the local authority may later make, the needs of that person call for the provision of services and it shall regard that person as being in need of such care as the person is receiving from the care home service.

(4) Where a local authority does not make an assessment before making a decision concerning the needs of a relevant person it may make a decision under section 12A(2) of the 1968 Act without consulting a medical practitioner.

FRANCIS McAVEETY

Authorised to sign by the Scottish Ministers

St Andrew’s House,

Edinburgh

20th June 2002