Find out if you're eligible for additional support as a carer

How we complete a carer's assessment

The purpose of a carer’s assessment is to find out what support you need to continue your caring role.

The first step in getting a carer's assessment is to do our online carer's self-assessment. We will then work out the best way we can help you.

Once we have agreed to do a carer’s assessment we will complete the assessment in line with the Care Act (2014) and make sure that:

• it’s appropriate to your needs and circumstances

• you are able to participate fully in the assessment

• it considers your choices, wishes and what want to achieve

• it takes account of the level and severity of your needs.

We use national eligibility criteria set out in the Care Act to decide whether we can meet your needs. We decide based on our assessment about the impact the caring role is having on your wellbeing.

What we consider when we carry out an assessment 

We consider the following three conditions, as outlined in the Care Act:

1. Whether the carer’s need for support exists because they are providing necessary care for an adult.

2. Because of their caring responsibilities, whether the carer's physical or mental health is getting worse or is at risk of doing so, or the carer is unable to:

• carry out any caring responsibilities the carer has for a child

• provide care to another person who the carer provides care

• maintain a habitable home environment in the carer's home, whether or not this is also the home of the adult needing care

• manage and maintain nutrition

• develop and maintain family or other personal relationships

• engage in work, training, education or volunteering

• make use of necessary facilities or services in the local community, including recreational facilities or services

• engage in recreational activities.

3. As a consequence of not being able to achieve the outcomes above, there is, or there is likely to be, a big impact on the carer's wellbeing, determining whether:

• the carer's needs impact on a least one of the areas of wellbeing in a significant way, or

• the cumulative effect of the impact on a number of the areas of wellbeing means that they have a significant impact on the carer’s overall wellbeing.

If you meet all three of the above conditions then we can discuss with you how we can best support you.

If you do not meet all three of the conditions we work with you to find local services and other ways to meet your needs.

Get advice or help with self-assessment forms

Before you submit a form

To get support with new carer self-assessment forms or for advice about caring, call the Carer IAS Service on 020 8314 7777 and choose option five.

After you submit a form

If you need to follow up an assessment form that you have already submitted, or if the needs of the person you care for have changed, call us on 020 8314 7777 and choose option one, or email gateway@lewisham.gov.uk