When you have a learning disability and care for someone

Recognise the care you already give

You may help a parent, partner, friend, sibling or another person with shopping, meals, appointments, reassurance or staying safe. You may share caring with someone who also supports you. Having a learning disability does not mean you cannot care or that your contribution is unimportant. You do not have to use the word carer about yourself to explain that you need help. This guide is mainly about unpaid care, not a paid care job.

Ask for a carer’s assessment

If you are 18 or over and provide or intend to provide care for another adult, ask the council’s adult social care team. The council must assess where it appears you may need support now or in the future. This does not depend on your savings, receiving Carer’s Allowance or caring for 35 hours a week. You do not have to live with or be related to the person. The assessment is free; eligibility and any charge for services are considered separately.

Ask about your own care needs too

You may need help with communication, personal care, getting out, managing your home or your health. Ask for your own needs assessment or review as well as a carer’s assessment. The person you support may need their own assessment. These should recognise how your lives connect without treating either person’s unpaid help as unlimited. Assessments can be coordinated, with consent where required, while keeping each person’s wishes and confidential information clear.

Make the assessment accessible

Ask for Easy Read questions beforehand, a suitable place, extra time, breaks or your communication aid. You can ask a chosen person to help and request time to speak privately. Explain if that supporter is also the person you care for and you need independent help. The council must arrange Care Act advocacy where you have substantial difficulty taking part and there is no appropriate person to support you; it is not automatic for every carer.

Show what caring involves across a week

Use a diary, pictures or the worksheet to record tasks, night-time interruptions, emotional support and appointments. Include help you give while tired or unwell and tasks others do not see. Describe effects on your sleep, physical and mental health, learning, paid work, friendships and time alone. Say what you enjoy about caring as well as what is becoming difficult. You do not need to wait until a crisis.

Agree support that protects the relationship

Possible plans include breaks, support for the person you care for, accessible training, practical help, transport or a local carers group. Ask for instructions you can use and help with unfamiliar tasks. Do not carry out lifting, medicines or other care tasks beyond what you can safely do with the training and support provided. It can help to plan time together as family or friends, rather than every meeting being about care.

Be clear about willing and able

The assessment must look at whether you are willing and able to continue caring. You can want to help while needing fewer tasks or more support. Caring should not be forced by threats, guilt or the absence of a suitable care package. Tell social care promptly if a task or situation is unsafe. Having difficulty with some tasks is a reason to plan support, not proof that your relationship should end.

Use the right route for children and young carers

If you are under 18 and care for someone, ask children’s services for a young carer’s assessment; a teacher or trusted adult can help. It should consider your wishes, education, health and whether the caring role is appropriate. If you are an adult with parental responsibility for your disabled child, ask the council’s children with disabilities team about a parent carer needs assessment. Ordinary parenting, a child’s additional needs and caring for another adult may require different support routes.

Check money and employment separately

Ask for a benefits check before claiming a carer benefit: there are conditions and possible effects on the cared-for person’s benefits. A carer’s assessment is not a Carer’s Allowance claim. You can receive disability benefits and have a caring role; entitlement depends on the relevant rules. If you work, use the working-while-caring guide to ask about leave, flexibility and support. Tell advisers about your own disability-related needs too.

Plan backup and ask for help when things change

Agree who will help if you are ill, in hospital or unavailable, and make the contact route easy to use. Ask for a review when caring or your own needs change. For immediate danger call 999. If abuse, neglect or pressure is affecting either of you, contact the council’s safeguarding team and use the safeguarding guide. Where a child may be unsafe, contact children’s services; do not assume disability alone means a child is at risk.

You can be a carer and need help too

Your caring role matters

Ask for assessments

Explain the help you need

Benefits and backup support

What you can do next

More useful links