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Adult social care and support

What is a carer's assessment

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A carer's assessment is a chance for you to talk to us about what it's like to be a carer. It looks at the care you provide and how this affects your day-to-day life. We use this to see how we can best support you with your health, wellbeing and daily life. It's free and is not a test of your ability to provide care. Anyone who provides unpaid care can ask for a carer's assessment.

This page is for adult carers.

Find out about the support you could get as an unpaid carer

Carer support

A carer is anyone who spends time providing unpaid care for a family member, relative or friend who needs help due to an illness or disability.

People who provide care are sometimes in full-time work and juggling responsibilities at home. You may find that caring is having a big impact on your wellbeing and everyday duties.

Sometimes carers need support, and you might not be aware of what kind of help is available. A carer's assessment can help you find advice, support and information to see what might help make your life easier.

A carer's assessment is a free service. It's open to anyone who wants to discuss their needs as a carer and explore what support is available. You do not need to live with the person you're looking after, or care for them full time. Carer's assessments are separate to a care and support assessment and focus on the carer, rather than the person being cared for. If you are aged under 18 and provide regular and ongoing care and emotional support to a family member please visit your local authority’s Children's Services webpages.  

During a carer’s assessment, you’ll discuss how your caring responsibility impacts your ability to carry out other duties in your life. It will focus on you and whether you feel able to maintain relationships, engage in work, training, education or volunteering as well as if you feel able to access facilities in your local community. It will also explore whether you have free time to do the things that are important to you, and whether your caring role affects your health and wellbeing.

After the assessment, your local authority will work with you to ensure the right support is available to you. This could be advice about benefits, receiving a one-off payment, help with household chores and day-to-day tasks, support groups and access to respite care. There are a range of respite care options which will help to stop you from becoming run down and let you take a break to look after yourself.

Who can get a carer’s assessment?

Anyone who cares for someone and does not get paid for it, can ask for a carer’s assessment. It does not matter how much you do or how often you help.

You can ask us for an assessment if:

  • you are over 18 and give unpaid help to someone who needs support
  • the person you care for is for over 18
  • the person you care for lives in Surrey - you do not have to live in Surrey or live with the person you care for
  • the person you care for does not get help from us - if they do speak to your social care or mental health team

Having a carer's assessment will not affect whether you get carer's allowance.

If the person you care for lives outside of Surrey, find their local council using their postcode.

You can ask for an assessment at any time, and you do not need the permission of the person you care for.

How to ask for a carer's assessment

The easiest way to ask for an assessment is to fill out our online form.

Start carer's assessment

If you prefer, you can register with Action for Carers Surrey and ask them to do it for you. You can also ask friends or family to fill out the form for you.

Things to think about before you start your carer’s assessment

When you start the carer’s assessment form, we will ask you about the help and support you need. Many carers focus on the person they look after, so you may not have had time to think about your own needs. The assessment is about you, so taking a moment to reflect can help you prepare.

Here are some questions to think about:

  • do you get enough sleep?
  • is your health affected by your caring role?
  • can you leave the person you care for when you need to?
  • are you worried about having to give up work or reduce your hours?
  • does caring affect your wellbeing or relationships with others?
  • do you get enough time for yourself?
  • is caring getting in the way of other things you need or want to do?
  • are there tasks you currently manage but worry you may struggle with in the future?
  • do you feel safe in your caring role?

Some of these questions might not apply to you, and you may have other things you want to tell us. There are no right or wrong answers. You can tell us as much or as little as you want to. What you share helps us understand the impact caring has on your life.

What happens in a carer’s assessment?

We will contact you to arrange a time to speak about what you have told us. We will look at what you can manage on your own and what you need help with. The conversation will cover:

  • the care you provide
  • if you want and can carry on providing care
  • if this is having an impact on your wellbeing (being happy and comfortable)
  • your physical, mental and emotional wellbeing
  • how caring affects your work, leisure, education, wider family and relationships
  • what you would like to achieve in your day-to-day life
  • whether you need any support
  • if you have emergency plans for if the unexpected happens
  • whether you qualify for any help from us - see what counts as eligible needs

What happens after your assessment

We will check if you have eligible needs. We do this by using national eligibility criteria for carers. We will contact you with the outcome of your assessment.

If you have eligible needs

If you have eligible needs, we have a duty to support you. We will work with you to write a support plan that shows how your needs will be met and what you want to achieve.

Support for carers is usually free. This includes:

  • information and advice
  • emotional support for you
  • services provided by Action for Carers Surrey
  • training
  • free benefits advice
  • help making emergency plans
  • a direct payment if you want one. This lets you choose and buy the care and support you need

Services which support the person you care for may be charged for. This includes:

  • support services by paid for care workers
  • community services
  • breaks or respite care

If your support plan identifies taking a break from caring as a need

Many carers need regular breaks to rest and look after their own health. There are different ways this can be arranged, and we will talk these through with you.

Replacement care means someone else looks after the person you care for, so you can take a break.

Because this care is provided to the person you care for:

  • they may need their own assessment
  • they will have a financial assessment
  • they may have to pay towards the cost

We will explain this clearly and talk about any costs before anything is agreed.

If you are assessed as needing regular breaks, we will support you, even if the person you care for does not have eligible needs.

If you have other eligible needs, like needing regular breaks, we will work with you to explore the best ways to meet them. This may include a direct payment, giving you more choice and control over how your support is arranged.

If you do not have eligible needs

Even if you do not have eligible needs, you can still get support as a carer in Surrey. This includes:

To find out more about these free or low-cost services see What help can I get as a carer.

You can ask for a new assessment if your situation changes, for example:

  • your caring role increases
  • your own health gets worse
  • the person you care for needs grow

What to do if you are not happy with your carer’s assessment

If you are unhappy with your outcome, speak to the person who assessed you. You can ask them to look at the decision again.

If you are still unhappy with the outcome, speak to the team manager. Ask for a further explanation and to have the decision reviewed.

If the team manager cannot resolve the issue, you can make a complaint. You can find our complaints procedure at Adult Social Care complaints.

You can contact us at:

Carer's assessments explained

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