Carers Rights

Carers’ Rights:

The Care Act 2014 provides carers with certain rights, and it is useful to be aware of these and how they can support you in your caring role.

Carer’s Assessment

If you are looking after someone who can’t manage without your help and they live in Birmingham you can approach Adult Social Care and ask for a Carer’s Assessment. You could be caring for someone in your family, a partner, a friend or neighbour.

If you are sharing caring responsibilities with another person, including a child under 18 you can each have a Carer’s Assessment.

You can have an assessment even if the person you care for does not meet the eligibility criteria, or has chosen not to seek support from Adult Social Care.

You can complete the assessment online here,  face to face or over the phone. You can contact Health and Social Care Connect to ask for an assessment. If a worker from Adult Social Care comes to the home of the person you care to carry out a face-to-face assessment, you can ask them to look at your needs as a joint assessment. 

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Read our useful guide to carers rights here. For more information about what’s involved in a Carer’s Assessment, download our fact sheet here and there is a Carers UK information fact sheet here.

Request for a flexible working pattern and taking time off in emergencies

As an unpaid carer you have a right to request flexible working, time off in emergencies and parental leave.

The Employment Rights Act 1996 gives all employees the right to take a ‘reasonable’ amount of time off work in order to deal with an emergency involving a dependant. It is at the discretion of the employer, whether or not the time off is paid or unpaid.

If you are an employee with 26 weeks continuous employment at the time you make an application, you have the right to request flexible working.

You also have the right not to be discriminated against or dismissed because you have made the request.

To find out more about flexible working and your rights, visit the Carers UK website here

Financial entitlements

It is important to know what benefits you and the person you care for are entitled to. It might make a difference to your pension entitlements in the future or bring in extra money to help pay for care.

Further information

Further information about the Care Act is here and fact sheets on finances, housing and looking after yourself is available on the Carers UK website.

How Care for the Carers can help you?

If you would like to know more about your rights as a carer, guidance through the health and social care system, or help to find out about welfare rights, training, and development opportunities contact us.