Carers and Direct Payments Act (Northern Ireland) 2002

Services for carers

2.—(1) Where an authority carries out an assessment under section 1(1) in respect of a carer, it shall consider the assessment and decide—

(a) whether the carer has needs in relation to the care which he provides or intends to provide;

(b) if so, whether they could be satisfied (wholly or partly) by services which the authority may provide; and

(c) if they could be so satisfied, whether or not to provide services to the carer.

(2) The services referred to are any services which—

(a) the authority sees fit to provide; and

(b) will in the authority’s view help the carer care for the person cared for,

and may take the form of physical help or other forms of support.

(3) A service, although provided to the carer, may take the form of a service delivered to the person cared for if—

(a) it is one which, if provided to him instead of to the carer, could fall within personal social services; and

(b) they both agree it is to be so delivered;

but if a service is delivered to the person cared for it may not, except in prescribed circumstances, include anything of an intimate nature.

(4) Regulations may make provision about what is, or is not, of an intimate nature for the purposes of subsection (3).

(5) The authority may make in respect of any services provided under this section such charges (if any) as the authority may determine; and any sum falling to be paid to the authority by virtue of this subsection shall be recoverable as a debt due to the authority.

(6) Personal social services shall not be provided to a carer solely by reason of his needs in relation to the care he provides or intends to provide.

(7) Subsection (9) applies if an authority—

(a) is either providing services under this section to the carer, or is providing personal social services to or in respect of the person cared for (but not both); and

(b) proposes to provide another service to (or in respect of) the one who is not receiving any such service,

and the new service, or any service already being provided, is one which could be provided either under this section, or by way of personal social services.

(8) Subsection (9) also applies if—

(a) an authority is not providing services to the carer (under this section) or to the person cared for (by way of personal social services), but proposes to provide services to each of them following an assessment under section 1(1) and under the 1972 Order; or

(b) an authority is providing services both to the carer (under this section) and to the person cared for (by way of personal social services), and proposes to provide to either of them a new service,

and (in a paragraph (a) case) any of the services, or (in a paragraph (b) case) the new service, is one which could be provided either under this section, or by way of personal social services.

(9) In the case of each such service, the authority shall decide whether the service is, or is in future, to be provided under this section, or by way of personal social services (and hence whether it is, or is in future, to be provided to the carer, or to the person cared for).

(10) The authority’s decision under subsection (9) is to be made without regard to the means of the carer or of the person cared for.