tal Health, the single largest cost of dealing with mental health problems is linked to the support provided by carers, with their contribution valued at over £14billion per annum. This again, reinforces the importance of carers and the need for organisations within the health and social care setting to take into consideration their best interest, needs as well as integrating their opinions and views into policies and legislations. In recent years, additional funding has been allocated by Government to provide support for carers (DoH, 2016). Although carers play a key role in the lives of service users, it can be very stressful for both the physical and mental health of the carers themselves.

The Care Act 2014 applies to those carers above 18years old and replaced any previous law and provides local authorities with the responsibility “assess a carer’s needs for support, where the carer appears to have such needs” (DoH,2016). The Care Act 2014 allows local authorities to assess the needs of carers and what the impact of caring is having on them. Due to the contribution being made to the local community, most local authorities do not charge for the support provided to carers. Carers under 18years of age are supported under the Children and Families Act.

Approved Mental Health Professionals (AMHPs) work on behalf of local authorities to carry out a variety of functions under the Mental Health Act (CQC,2018). Social workers constitute a great proportion of AMHPs, although the implementation of the Mental Health reforms in 2008 allowed the introduction of non-social workers