Section 6 - Duty to prepare adult carer support plan
17.Subsection (1) defines what an “adult carer support plan” is, namely a plan prepared by a responsible local authority that sets out an adult carer’s identified personal outcomes, any identified needs and any support to be provided by the responsible local authority to meet those needs. The assessment process for identifying those outcomes and needs will be set out in regulations under section 8. Section 9 gives more information about the content of the adult carer support plan.
18.Subsection (2) places a duty on the responsible local authority so that where they identify a person as an adult carer, the responsible local authority must offer the person an adult carer support plan.
19.Subsection (3) states that a responsible local authority is required to prepare an adult carer support plan for a person if the person accepts an offer made under subsection (2) or the person requests a plan in accordance with subsection (4).
20.Subsection (4) applies if a person who appears to the responsible local authority to be an adult carer requests an adult carer support plan: that is, if an adult self-identifies as a carer and the responsible local authority agrees that the adult comes within the definition of carer under section 1 of the Act.
21.Subsection (5) requires responsible local authorities, when exercising their functions concerning the preparation of the adult carer support plan, to do so in a manner which encourages equal opportunities and in particular observance of the equal opportunity requirements. ‘Equal opportunity requirements’ means the requirements of the law for the time being relating to the prevention, elimination or regulation of discrimination between persons on grounds of sex or marital status, on racial grounds, or on grounds of disability, age, sexual orientation, language or social origin, or of other personal attributes, including beliefs of opinions, such as religious beliefs or opinions (which is the meaning given in Section L2 of Part 2 of schedule 5 of the Scotland Act 1998).
22.Subsection (6) defines the “responsible local authority”, in relation to an adult carer, as the local authority for the area in which the cared-for person lives. This will still be the case where the adult carer lives in a different local authority area to the one in which the cared-for person lives.
