Carers and Disabled Children Act 2000 

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The Carers and Disabled Children Act 2000 was introduced to enable Local Authorities to offer support to carers.

Carers look after those who are in need of additional care, assistance or support perhaps because of long-term illness or problems associated with disability. Great Britain has an estimated 5.7 million carers and one in six households - 17 per cent - contains a carer.

The Act makes four principal changes to the law with the objective of enabling local authorities to offer new support to carers to help them to maintain their own health and well being.

First, the Act gives local authorities the power to supply certain services which help the carer care for the person being cared for, direct to carers following assessment.

Secondly, the Act empowers local authorities to make direct payments to carers (including 16 and 17 year old carers) for the services that meet their own assessed needs, to persons with parental responsibility for disabled children for services for the family, and to 16 and 17 year old disabled children for services that meet their own assessed needs.

Thirdly, the Act provides for local authority social services departments to run short term break voucher schemes. Voucher schemes are designed to offer flexibility in the timing of carers' breaks and choice in the way services are delivered to persons cared for while their usual carer is taking a break.

Finally, the Act gives local authorities a power to charge carers for the services they receive.

Click here to view the Carers and Disabled Children Act 2000