Legal rights and advice for carers

Visit Carers UK to see your rights as an unpaid carer.

All local authorities are responsible for funding social care through a combination of:

• grants from central government, via the Department of Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC)
• local revenue, raised through Council Tax, the specific social care precept and business rates

The government has provided guidance on how local authorities should approach adult social care.

If you are concerned that someone may not be able to make or communicate their own decisions, you can make a lasting power of attorney document.

These are legal documents to help family members or close friends make decisions about someone's health, wellbeing, financial or property situation when they're no longer able to themselves.

So that it’s ready to activate when needed, you should put a lasting power of attorney in place as soon as possible.

You can apply to become someone’s deputy if they ‘lack mental capacity’. This means they cannot decide things for themselves.

You can apply to become someone’s:

• property and financial affairs deputy
• personal welfare deputy

Find out about how to become a deputy to make decisions for someone who lacks capacity.

If the person that you care for is placed in a care home or hospital, they will be protected by Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS) if they:

• are confined to a restricted place for a non-negligible period of time
• do not have the capacity to consent to their care and treatment in those circumstances
• are subject to ‘continuous and complete supervision and control’
• are not free to leave

This is part of the Mental Capacity Act 2005.