Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps he is taking to ensure that local authorities fulfil their statutory duties under section 63 of the Care Act 2014 to provide transition assessments for young carers.

The government remains committed to continuing to support all carers to provide care as they would wish in a way that supports their own health, wellbeing and life chances. In June 2018, the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) published the Carers Action Plan, a cross-government programme of targeted work to support all carers, including young carers.

DHSC has been working with The Children’s Society to identify and publicise effective practices to local authorities to support young adult carers to make positives transitions between the ages of 16-24. To this end, ‘Shaping our Future: Improving Assessment and Support for Young Carers’ Transition to Adulthood’ was published in June 2019.

Further to the reply to PQ 237696, the government is clear that the Care Act (2014) does place duties on local authorities to undertake transition assessments, and that Care and Support Statutory Guidance sets out how these duties should be met.