The Welsh Government has responded to the Sixth Senedd Committee's report:“at breaking point” The urgent need to improve support for unpaid carers in Wales

Each recommendation in the committee's report, in the committee's words, and the answer the Welsh Government gave in its response laid on 28 September 2026.

35 recommendations: 27 accepted and 8 accepted in principle.

The Government's response (PDF)

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The Government's response, recommendation by recommendation

1
The incoming Welsh Government should work with unpaid carers and carers’ support organisations to design and promote a national awareness campaign. This campaign should promote the concept of “unpaid carers,” encourage self- identification, and publicise how to seek help. It should include outreach via GP surgeries, hospitals, pharmacies, schools, workplaces, and community settings (including places frequented by older people and ethnic minority communities).
Accepted
2
To promote identification of unpaid carers in primary care health settings, the incoming Welsh Government should consider re-introducing targeted incentives for primary care to identify carers and signpost them to appropriate information and support.
Accepted in principle
3
The incoming Welsh Government should encourage health boards to ensure that all hospitals have arrangements in place, such as carer support officers, to identify carers during outpatient appointments, inpatient admissions and in preparation for discharge, with clear procedures to involve and inform the carer at every stage.
Accepted
4
All health, social care, and education professionals should receive training in carer awareness, enabling them to recognise the signs of unpaid caring and respond appropriately. The incoming Welsh Government should work across portfolios to ensure that this recommendation is given full effect.
Accepted
5
The incoming Welsh Government should, in collaboration with local authorities and the third sector, explore innovative approaches to finding ‘hidden’ carers. This could include better use of data and technology (as per the suggestion of the Older People’s Commissioner) to identify individuals who may be in caring roles (such as those frequently collecting prescriptions or making health appointments for others) and make a proactive early offer of information and advice, signposting and carers’ needs assessments.
Accepted
6
The incoming Welsh Government should, as a matter of priority, review the action plan (led by ADSS) for upholding unpaid carers’ rights under the Social Services and Well-being (Wales) Act 2014 to ensure that it: ▪ sets out clear actions, lines of responsibility and milestones; ▪ includes steps to improve the offer and take-up of needs assessments and ensure carers receive timely support services; ▪ addresses known barriers, including language and cultural barriers; and ▪ sets out how progress will be monitored and reported and should ensure that any gaps in the plan are addressed.
Accepted
7
The incoming Welsh Government should consider introducing national minimum standards for carers’ support services. These standards could include: ▪ maximum waiting times for carers’ assessments; ▪ expectations for the range of carers services that should be available as a minimum in each region (such as a dedicated young carers’ service); ▪ a proactive offer of information and advice, and advocacy for those who need it; and ▪ expectations for carers’ involvement in care planning and hospital discharge processes. Introduction of these standards should be accompanied by publication of an annual progress report, which should provide details of the actions to be taken by the Welsh Government…
Accepted in principle
8
The incoming Welsh Government should consider updating statutory guidance under the Social Services and Well-being (Wales) Act 2014 to strengthen the standards for Carers’ Needs Assessments. This should, as a minimum: ▪ require proactive offers of information, advice and assistance and needs assessments to be made to people who may be carers, and require assessments and support plans to be completed in a timely manner within a specific period of time, with a written copy provided to the carer; ▪ explore the use of alternative terminology (such as “what matters conversation”) to replace the word “assessment,” which some carers find off-putting; ▪ emphasise the need for the assessment…
Accepted in principle
9
The incoming Welsh Government should ensure that updated hospital discharge guidance to be published later this year: ▪ reaffirms the importance of early discussions with families to ensure a safe and effective discharge; ▪ requires every health board to have a mechanism in every hospital (such as a designated carers’ champion) to consult with the carer prior to discharge and, if that carer indicates they are unable to provide care, to work with the local authority to provide support to make alternative care arrangements; ▪ requires confirmation that the carer is willing and able to provide the necessary care and provides information to the potential carer about their legal rights.
Accepted
10
The incoming Welsh Government should ensure that the new National Strategy for Unpaid Carers is accompanied by a strong governance and accountability framework, and a clear implementation plan that links strategic aims to measurable outcomes.
Accepted
11
The incoming Welsh Government should consider a requirement for each relevant Minister to report on how their portfolio is contributing to supporting unpaid carers in order to ensure that responsibility for unpaid carers is shared across government.
Accepted
12
Given the well-documented and long-standing lack of progress with services for unpaid carers, we believe that external oversight is crucial. The incoming Welsh Government should commit to providing an annual statement to the Senedd on progress with delivery of key outcomes for unpaid carers, including the implementation of recommendations in this report and the Carers Strategy Delivery Plan. These statements should: ▪ detail improvements in areas including Carers Assessment rates, respite provision, and support for young carers; and ▪ outline any further actions the Welsh Government will take if progress is unsatisfactory.
Accepted
13
We recommend that the Welsh Government directs Care Inspectorate Wales to integrate ongoing compliance checks on carer support and statutory duties relating to unpaid carers into their regular inspection and monitoring of local authorities.
Accepted
14
Following the Minister’s agreement with Care Inspectorate Wales that their next bi-annual assurance meetings with Directors of Social Services (due in April 2026) will include support for unpaid carers as a key line of enquiry, the incoming Welsh Government should write to our successor committee within six months to provide an update on any developments arising from those meetings and details of the next steps that have been agreed.
Accepted
15
As part of cross-government working, the incoming Welsh Government should consider creating a rapid home aids and adaptions scheme for unpaid carers for essential home aids and adaptations that have been identified as part of a needs assessment.
Accepted in principle
16
The incoming Welsh Government should work with health boards and local authorities to establish a formal system to ensure carers receive timely health and mental well-being support. This should include offering all identified unpaid carers (particularly those providing high-intensity care) flexible appointments and regular health check-ups, as well as signposting to peer support groups or other mental health support.
Accepted in principle
17
Carers must be recognised as a priority group in mental health and suicide prevention strategies and action plans. The incoming Welsh Government should report on how it is addressing the elevated suicide risk amongst carers, including in the forthcoming suicide prevention action plan.
Accepted in principle
18
The Welsh Government and local authorities must ensure, through their respite and home care services, that carers can attend to their own health needs. Each local authority should develop a relief or sitting service provision so that carers can attend medical appointments. The Welsh Government should monitor provision of these services and should consider publishing national guidance to make replacement care for carers’ health a standard offer across Wales.
Accepted
19
The incoming Welsh Government should undertake a feasibility study on providing a Wales-specific Carer’s Allowance Supplement or other direct financial support for carers and publish its findings. It should do this within the next 12 months.
Accepted
20
In the shorter term, the incoming Welsh Government should consider implementing additional, one-off support payments for unpaid carers most at risk of fuel poverty and financial crisis (for example, by replicating and expanding the £500 carers payment initiative). Such payments should be well-publicised and automatically issued where possible to avoid low uptake due to lack of awareness or administrative barriers.
Accepted
21
The incoming Welsh Government should consider increasing the annual funding for the Carers Support Fund in response to the clear evidence of need amongst carers, and commit to proactive promotion of the Fund so that more carers in need are aware of it.
Accepted
22
The incoming Welsh Government should ensure that carers are recognised as a priority group when developing anti-poverty interventions in Wales.
Accepted
23
The incoming Welsh Government should develop a comprehensive action plan to expand and improve respite care provision for unpaid carers. This should: ▪ include minimum standards for respite and replacement care provision across local authorities in Wales, including ensuring adequate provision of night-time and emergency care; ▪ monitor delivery against those minimum standards; and ▪ publish the findings annually, along with details of the actions it will take if any local authority consistently fails to provide the minimum level of respite.
Accepted
24
To ensure stability in carer support services, the incoming Welsh Government should consider moving towards multi-year funding arrangements for the third sector and local authorities, similar to the multi-year funding commitments for important programmes like the Short Breaks Scheme and Carers Support Fund. Where possible, it should encourage and enable Regional Partnership Boards, local authorities and health boards to offer three-to-five-year contracts for key carer services, and should itself look to announce funding for carer support services early in the financial year to help the third sector plan, and recruit and retain staff.
Accepted
25
The incoming Welsh Government should consider ringfencing the funding provided for respite and carers support services.
Accepted
26
The incoming Welsh Government should improve transparency and accountability by requiring each Regional Partnership Board to publish an annual carers’ funding and performance report, detailing how much funding is being spent on carer services in the region, which source of funding it comes from, and the outcomes being delivered.
Accepted in principle
27
The incoming Welsh Government must work with local authorities to improve the way they engage with carers from ethnic minority backgrounds, with the aim of co-producing culturally sensitive respite services which address the needs of diverse carer communities. The Welsh Government should monitor progress with this.
Accepted
28
Support and services for unpaid carers should be co-produced with unpaid carers at every level – locally, regionally and nationally. To this end, we believe that the incoming Welsh Government and Regional Partnership Boards (RPBs) should strengthen the voice of unpaid carers in decision-making and enhance their representation on RPBs. To this end, multiple carer representatives should be encouraged on each RPB, and each RPB should provide enhanced support for their carer representatives, including training, remuneration and replacement care where appropriate, to enable carers to be meaningfully involved, and attend and participate fully, in meetings. The incoming Welsh Government should…
Accepted
29
The incoming Welsh Government should ensure the development and delivery of training and guidance for school staff about young carers, co-produced by young carers.
Accepted
30
The incoming Welsh Government should encourage all schools and colleges in Wales to have a young carers champion or lead staff member with responsibility for young carers. The incoming Welsh Government should explore incorporating education about young carers into wellbeing programmes or frameworks, so that all students and staff are aware of what a young carer is and how to seek help.
Accepted in principle
31
The incoming Welsh Government must ensure that the rights of young carers are fully upheld and that no child or young person is left carrying out inappropriate levels of care. The incoming Welsh Government should issue refreshed guidance emphasising that young carers have a right not to undertake excessive or inappropriate care, and outlining the responsibilities of local authorities, schools, and health and social services to support young carers accordingly.
Accepted
32
The incoming Welsh Government must expedite the work to implement fully the recommendations relating to young carer data made by Estyn in its 2019 report.
Accepted
33
The Welsh Government should, as a matter of urgency, identify additional funding within relevant Welsh Government budgets to provide direct support for the full delivery of the young carer ID card scheme across all local authorities. It should monitor the outcomes of this action.
Accepted
34
The incoming Welsh Government should strongly encourage local authorities to increase uptake of the young carer ID card and should publish annual data on the number of young carer ID cards issued by each local authority to track progress with delivery of the scheme.
Accepted
35
In advance of publication of the new national data set on unpaid carers in April 2027, the incoming Welsh Government should consider publishing an interim data report bringing together existing data on key indicators, including number of carers identified; number of assessments offered and completed; waiting times for carers’ assessments and support plans; types of support provided; and the number of carers receiving breaks. It should aim to do this before the end of 2026.
Accepted

Read automatically from the Government's response document, which gives each recommendation and a one-word answer. The reasons the Government gives are in the document itself. Report an error

Committee recommendations