Assessing your needs as a carer
Carer’s assessments are for adult carers of adults (over 18 years) who are disabled, ill or elderly. The assessment is an opportunity to discuss with us what support or services you need. The assessment will look at how caring affects your life, including for example, physical, mental and emotional needs, and whether you are able or willing to carry on caring.
We provide the following help for carers over 18 and for those they care for:
- the person you look after can have a care assessment to see if services can be provided to support or replace the care you normally give. You are able to contribute to this discussion if the person you care for agrees to this.
- you can have your own confidential carer's assessment which will look at your caring responsibilities and your own needs.
- advice and information on local services and organisations.
If you are a young carer, please visit our young carers page
Who can have a carer's assessment
Any carer who appears to have needs for support can have an assessment by Bromley Council. As a carer you are entitled to an assessment regardless of the amount or type of care you provide, your financial means or your level of need for support. You can have an assessment whether or not the person you care for has had an assessment of their needs, or if the council have decided they are not eligible for support.
Find out more about assessments for adults with care needs
If you and the person you care for agree, a combined assessment of both your needs can be undertaken at the same time. If you are sharing caring responsibilities with another person, or more than one person, including a child under 18, you can each have a carer’s assessment. You don’t necessarily have to live with the person you are looking after or be caring full-time to have a carer’s assessment. You may be juggling work and care and this is having a big impact on your life.
How to get a carer's assessment
You can contact our adult early Intervention service and ask for a carer’s assessment or for a review of your support plan. If you want to, you can ask for an assessment before you take up your caring role.
You can also submit a carer’s self-assessment form online and someone will contact you to discuss this.
Professionals
As a professional you can use our referral form to refer to adult social care. Once your account has been created, it will save your details for any future referrals.
Make a referral to adult social care.
For carers of people aged under 65 with mental ill-health
This help can be accessed through the Community Mental Health teams. Further details of services for carers with mental ill-health can be found on the Oxleas NHS Trust website.
Services for carers and those they care for are also provided by local voluntary organisations.
Costs
There is no cost for assessment, advice or information from us. However, there may be a cost for some of the services that are available, which will be fully discussed before support is arranged.
Before your carer's assessment
If you have arranged to have a carer's assessment of your needs, give yourself plenty of time to think about your role as a carer and note your thoughts down. You might consider:
- Whether you want to continue being a carer
- If you were prepared to continue, what changes would make your life easier
- If there is any risk that you will not be able to continue as a carer without support
- Whether you have any physical or mental health problems, including stress or depression, which make your role as a carer more difficult
- Whether being a carer affects your relationships with other people, including family and friends
- If you are in paid work, whether being a carer causes problems at your work (such as often being late)
- If you like more time to yourself so that you can have a rest or enjoy some leisure activity
- If you like to do some training, voluntary work or paid work