SACE Eligible Population:

These are not exhaustive of all possible scenarios but aim to provide addition clarity for Councils with Adult Social Services Responsibilities (CASSRs) on who to include in their SACE eligible population.

As in line with the Short and Long Term Support (SALT) guidance, paid carers should not be included in the SACE eligible population. Paid care workers funded by direct payments, provided as part of a commissioned service or in a residential and nursing care setting are not in the scope of the SALT collection and so should not be counted as ‘carers’. Similarly, those in a prison setting should also not be counted as having a carer.

A: LTS003 is not concerned whether carers have contacted the local authority directly or whether a third party (e.g., a voluntary sector organisation) is providing assessment of eligibility for services. Although local arrangements for assessment of carer needs differ, all should involve direct contact with the carer. If carers are not being assessed by or on behalf of the local authority, the services provided can only be captured under the ‘Information, Advice and Other Universal Services / Signposting’ category. Authorities will have a range of differing funding arrangements with third party organisations. In some instances the organisation will be able to provide the relevant details of each carer (age, the person they care for etc.). These can be used to report the carer support in LTS003. In other instances the funding may be more general and the authority would have no expectation of the maintenance of carer by carer records. In such cases we would not expect that an authority would report these carers within LTS003.

If however the local authority commissions support (both by signposting and direct referrals) for carers who meet agreed assessment criteria and then pays for that support on a per- client basis, this activity could be part of LTS003 if the rest of the inclusion criteria are met.

A: The answer of whether a carers’ newsletter would constitute ‘Information, Advice and Other Universal Services / Signposting’ depends on whether it can be considered as a 'service' or 'support' to the carer and whether any consideration of their needs was made.
SALT does not require support to be 'tailored' to the needs of the individual - accepting that some standardised forms of advice / information can be useful. There is still a need to understand what the carer’s circumstances are though the depth of any screening / assessment needs to be proportionate, depending on the scenario. Some cases would require just a 'screening' over the phone, without a full carer eligibility assessment. The SALT Guidance states that “LTS003 does distinguish whether support for carers is provided through an ‘assessment’ or ‘review' although this is not a requirement for the provision of services. Local authorities will have different systems in place for determining the needs of carers and allocating support.”
The following should assist in determining whether the newsletter would appear in SALT:

• if the person receiving the newsletter has been confirmed to remain a carer, and had some form of (perhaps very brief) screening / assessment to confirm they do not have more serious caring needs but might find the newsletter informative, then this would count (as information & advice). The carer details (age, etc.) would of course need to be known.
• if the person is sent a newsletter in response to a specific request for information, this would also count as information and advice (providing details were logged of course).
• if the person did not ask for the newsletter and / or has not been in contact with the Council in their capacity as a carer and / or has not had their carer’s needs screened or assessed, then this would not count. An example would be if a carers’ newsletter / leaflet was sent out on its own or with other publications as part of a general 'mailshot' (e.g., “Are You a Carer? We can Help!"), perhaps to raise awareness etc. This is not in response to any identified need, so would not be relevant to SALT. [LTS003]

A: Yes, if the interaction occurred in the last 12 months as the CASSR has had some interaction with the carer in some way, either by assessing their needs, or by providing support (be it direct or indirect).

A: Yes, if the interaction occurred in the last 12 months as the CASSR has had some interaction with the carer in some way, either by assessing their needs, or by providing support (be it direct or indirect).

A: No, for example, a husband who cares for his wife may also receive support for his own social care needs. The local authority decides that the support received for social care needs is the primary support reason, and records this as such. Although his PSR is not ‘Social Support – Support for Carer’, he continues to receive support as a carer, and so should be included in SALT LTS003.

For further clarification on scenarios where it is not clear if a carer should be included in the CASSR eligible population for the SACE, please contact the Adult Social Care Statistics team by emailing [email protected].