The Public Services Ombudsman for Wales has raised “concern” over records kept for assessments of young carers in Ceredigion following an investigation launched as calls are made for unpaid carers to receive more support across Wales.

The Ombudsman Michelle Morris launched an investigation focussing on the administration of carers’ needs assessments by Ceredigion County Council along with authorities in Caerphilly, Flintshire and Neath Port Talbot.

The Ombudsman found that “more must be done to ensure unpaid carers are proactively identified and informed of their right to a carers' needs assessment and the support that may be available to them.”

In Ceredigion, where it is estimated that as many 7,500 residents provide unpaid care, the Ombudsman said that it was “concerning that young carers’ assessments at Ceredigion County Council were not documented on a formal and individual carer’s needs assessment form and that the investigation was therefore unable to draw any conclusions as to whether the assessments conducted were appropriate, nor whether young carers’ needs were properly explored and met.”

Council figures show that 150 young people were registered as young carers in the county, but the Ombudsman report says that evidence showed that Ceredigion County Council has “very little oversight” of the service, which is provided in the county by Gofalwyr Ceredigion Carers.

Gofalwyr Ceredigion Carers started completing carers’ needs assessments with young carers in April 2022.

As part of the Ombudsman investigation, Gofalwyr Ceredigion Carers submitted a spreadsheet of young carers’ assessments it had completed.

It said that additional case notes were recorded on a database to outline the family situation, but were unable to extract the information and it was not provided to the investigation.

The report said that the spreadsheet was “mystifying”, and although “key information had been collected”, a view could not be formed about the “quality of the assessments, whether they were appropriate nor whether needs were properly explored and met.”

“Whilst Gofalwyr Ceredigion Carers provides contract monitoring reports, it is unclear what, if any, action follows or how the council is assured of the quality of the completed assessments,” the report says.

“This investigation has identified inadequacies in the recording of young carers’ needs assessments at Gofalwyr Ceredigion Carers.

“This had not previously been identified by the Council.

“It is concerning that Ceredigion County Council, with the statutory duty to assess the needs of young carers in the county, had not identified the lack of records being completed by its commissioned service provider.

“This reinforces the need for there to be systems in place to quality check the services being provided to carers.

“The absence of comprehensive documented assessments for individual young carers at Ceredigion County Council is an administrative shortcoming.

“However, it is encouraging that Ceredigion County Council has already taken steps to address this.

“It is concerning that Ceredigion County Council had no process to monitor whether young carers or the person with parental responsibility was satisfied with the outcome of an assessment completed by Gofalwyr Ceredigion Carers, nor was there a process to monitor whether the outcome of assessments continued to meet the needs of young carers.

“Ceredigion County Council must ensure that young carer assessments are undertaken properly and documented.

“It is pleasing to note that Ceredigion County Council has implemented a Quality Framework and has employed Quality Assurance staff to provide independent oversight for carers’ needs assessments completed by the authority and by its commissioned service provider.”

Apart from concerns raised over young carers, the report also found that staff from Gofalwyr Ceredigion Carers raised concerns about some council teams being unsure who was responsible for providing carers’ needs assessments, where the carer was an adult and the cared for person was a child – they said that clear guidance would be useful.

Ceredigion respondents to the Ombudsman’s investigation also identified a number of barriers to carers having their needs assessed.

One carer in Ceredigion told the investigation that his first assessment was “less than useless” as he had the impression that “staff were telling him what he was entitled to, but at no point was it implemented and his needs were not met.”

The service in Ceredigion was praised for many aspects of its service outside the concerns over the recording of young carers’ assessments, with the report saying “Ceredigion County Council is exploring the use of, and developing, technology assisted care services that may, in due course, support carer wellbeing.”

“Ceredigion County Council holds a carers’ register and a ‘Carers’ Referral Pathway’, demonstrating collaborative working between local authorities and health services,” the Ombudsman found.

“Once registered, the carer’s details are passed to relevant departments to provide information and support to the carer.

“All staff within the ‘Through Age Wellbeing’ programme, including housing staff, must complete a mandatory training module relating to carers to ensure they are able to identify carers in their day-to-day work and explain to carers how to have their needs assessed.

“A staff member from Ceredigion County Council referred to the need to “read between the lines” when dealing with calls and hear the “unsaid”, to ensure that those who may not realise they are carers, or who are not aware of their rights, are properly informed.

“This mindset is to be commended.”

The overall Ombudsman’s investigation finds that, although carers are legally entitled under the Social Services and Well-being (Wales) Act 2014 to a ‘needs assessment’ if they appear to have needs for support or are likely to do so in the future, only 2.8 per cent of the carers in the four investigated authorities have had their needs assessed and only 1.5 per cent had an assessment that led to a support plan.

Only a very small proportion of carers in the investigated authorities have had their needs assessed and an even smaller proportion had assessments that led to a support plan.

The report said “there is a need to improve the identification of carers to support them through early intervention and prevention, to support them in their caring role and avoid carers reaching crisis point before seeking assistance from the local authority.”

The report said that “some areas of good practice were identified across all four local authorities” but the Ombudsman’s report highlights several areas for improvement.

“The early identification of carers, to support them through early intervention and prevention and to avoid them reaching crisis point before they seek assistance – it is important that carers are informed that they have a right to have their needs assessed separately from the person they are caring for if they want a separate assessment,” the report recommended.

“The early identification of carers is not only the role of local authorities, health services also have a role to play and there is a need to improved collaboration.

“There is a need for better data collection and use of equality data.

“There is a need for better monitoring of the quality and consistency of carers needs assessments – where local authorities contracts another organisation to complete carer needs assessments on their behalf they remain responsible for the services and should monitor the contractual arrangements.

“Local Authorities must ensure that their staff and those employed by other organisations commissioned to deliver services are trained appropriately on carers rights and how to assess carers needs.”

The Ombudsman said the “learning from this report applies to all 22 Local Authorities in Wales,” but was “pleased to note that the actions identified are already being taken forward by the Welsh Government through its Ministerial Action Group.”

Responding to the report, Ceredigion County Council said that, “during its ‘front door sift’ process, carers were offered an assessment, with a clear explanation provided of what this was.”

The Council said that carers were offered a carers’ information pack, which included information about carers’ needs assessments.

The Council said that carers were also offered a referral to its Carers Support Service, which focused on supporting carers and offering information, advice, emotional support and access to training and well-being groups.

The Council said that carers were also given information about Gofalwyr Ceredigion Carers for carer replacement support.

It said that carer replacement support could be provided on a short-term basis, prior to an assessment.

Ceredigion County Council said that all Direct Payments were facilitated via a managed account.

It said that Direct Payments, and its process and requirements, were discussed during the assessment process.

The Council said that, at that point, carers could also seek additional advice and guidance from its Direct Payments team to support with their decision.

The Council said that, if the carer decided on a Direct Payment, they were allocated an Independent Living Advisor to provide ongoing support and to highlight when a review was required.

Ceredigion County Council said that Gofalwyr Ceredigion Carers had recently been recommissioned to provide support to adult and young carers in its area.

The Council said that Gofalwyr Ceredigion Carers was working to a new service specification which embedded the need for assessments to be shared, for quality assurance purposes.

The Council said that it was working with Gofalwyr Ceredigion Carers to embed this as part of its quarterly monitoring meetings.

The Council said that, at the end of March 2024, it had over 2,200 unpaid carers signed up to its Information Service, which represented a 35 per cent increase from April 2023, when this investigation started.

It said that this demonstrated that unpaid carers were aware of the service provided by the Council.

Ceredigion County Council said that, during this investigation, it had appointed a Quality Assurance Officer, implemented a Quality Assurance Framework and redesigned and implemented a new children’s proportionate assessment.

The Council said that, in 2023-2024, it had completed 436 carers’ assessments, compared to 231 in 2022-2023.

Gofalwyr Ceredigion Carers said that the spreadsheet provided to the investigation was a report extracted from its database, where it kept young carers’ needs assessments.

It said that it did not currently spend an excessive amount of time doing young carers’ needs assessments as it completed a proportional assessment by conversation.

Gofalwyr Ceredigion Carers said that this was part of getting to know the young carer and their family, forming a relationship, understanding their strengths, what they are worried about and understanding what matters to them.

Gofalwyr Ceredigion carers said that it would like to continue doing this, rather than undertaking formal assessments.

This is because it hears from other organisations, anecdotally, that they spend a large proportion of their time on carers’ needs assessments.

Public Services Ombudsman for Wales, Michelle Morris, said: “Welsh Government predicts that the percentage of unpaid carers will increase to 16 per cent of the population by 2037.

“Therefore, there is no doubt that the role of unpaid carers is crucial in supporting social care in Wales.

“I am eager to ensure that carers are recognised and properly informed of their rights.

“They should be supported in their role through the provision of early prevention and intervention to ensure that their contribution to social care can continue, if they so wish.

“Caring should not be to the detriment of the carer’s health and wellbeing.

“Nor should support only be provided when crisis point has already been reached.

“I hope that the learning and recommendations highlighted in my report will be helpful, not only to the four investigated authorities, but to all local authorities in Wales.

“I encourage local authorities and health boards to reflect on their own role in supporting carers.

“Doing so will help drive improvements across Wales and ensure that all carers, regardless of where they or the cared-for person lives, have their rights upheld and feel supported to enable them to continue in their often demanding caring roles.”

The Welsh Government said that the Association of Directors of Social Services Cymru report, which it commissioned, highlighted similar areas for improvement.

It said that, as a result, it had established a Task and Finish group as part of the Ministerial Advisory Group on unpaid carers.

The Welsh Government has also published a Charter for unpaid carers.