Carers Strategic Policy Statement

Overview

The Carers Strategic Policy Statement maps the main policies across the Scottish Government which are particularly relevant to unpaid carers - alongside the outcomes these policies contribute towards and the Scottish Government’s overall ambitions for carers and carer support. It is intended to assist local and national strategic planning and policy development in the statutory, independent and third sector to understand the existing national policies and approaches in place to support unpaid carers in Scotland.

By having this “map” of national carer support policies and strategies, those with a role in commissioning or providing support for carers can make fully informed decisions about different approaches and models, and tap into existing opportunities.

The draft puts the individual carer in the centre and focuses on national policies to address four different aspects of carer support:

• Carer Voice and Engagement
• Health and Social Care Support
• Social and Financial Inclusion
• Young Carers

Why your views matter

The Carers Strategic Policy Statement is intended to maximise the benefits from national policies and approaches intended to support carers (including major ongoing reforms such as implementation of the Carers (Scotland) Act and the development of our new social security powers for carers).

It aims to do this by connecting a wide range of existing policies.
The draft Statement has been developed following intensive informal engagement with stakeholders.

We want to ensure it covers the right information and is presented in a way which will be genuinely useful to its intended audience. We are consulting formally on the draft document to test that it achieves these aims.

Read the consultation paper 

What happens next

The responses to the consultation will be analysed and the results will be used to help ensure the Carers Strategic Policy Statement covers the right information and is presented in a way which will be genuinely useful to its intended audience.