I’m a carer; will the local authority charge me?

Carers provide care and support to a person in receipt of community care (social care) services, and as providers of care and support, they are not subject to charging for any help that they need to provide that care.

The Self-Directed Support (Scotland) Act 2013  (SDS Act) gave local authorities the power to provide carers with support to help them continue in their caring role and also the power to charge for those services. However, Scottish Ministers subsequently introduced regulations to categorically prevent councils from imposing such charges.

The Carer’s (Scotland) Act 2016 comes into force in 2018 and gives adult carers and young carers a right to have their needs for support assessed, and to have a Support Plan that imposes a duty on local authorities to provide services direct to carers to help them in their caring role.

This Act does not give local authorities the right to charge carers for those services and therefore, services to support carers to continue in their caring role remain free.