Who will hold the government to account for emergency legislation that is passed during the time of COVID-19?
Since before the pandemic, tide (together in dementia everyday) and Making Space have been working in partnership on a project called Law 4 Dementia Carers.
This 2 year project funded by The Legal Education Foundation, is working with the Justice Hub at the University of Manchester and is looking at the legal, including human rights, issues that affect carers of people with dementia.
With emergency legislation needed as the world fundamentally changes in order to cope with the COVID-19 pandemic, the more we lose some of our fundamental rights already protected by law.
With Covid-19 rapidly changing the world, a new Act of Parliament was passed on the 25 March called the Coronavirus Act 2020. Fast tracked through parliament in four days the Act contains ‘emergency powers’ to enable public bodies to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic.
There is acceptance that emergency legalisation is needed at this unprecedented time, however we (Making Space and tide) are concerned about how the health and social care aspects will be implemented locally. The emergency legislation allows individual local authorities to enact Care Act Easements where they consider it necessary to do so. Our key concern is how the Coronavirus Act 2020 will impact carers of people with dementia and their access to assessment and support as set out under the original Care Act 2014.
Anna Gaughan, Chief Executive of tide said:
“We are extremely concerned about this new legislation and the potential impact on carers of people with dementia, who are currently vulnerable, exhausted and neglected despite their contribution to the care economy.
It is estimated there are 850,000 carers of people with dementia in the UK. With the current pandemic, these numbers are set to rise as provision of care home places are reduced and additional respite care has been withdrawn. Dementia won’t stop for the pandemic and we are talking to our members who are caring for someone with dementia, without access to their usual support network. Indeed with even family and friends visits now limited, the carers are doing more than ever with less support”
Making Space is committed to working with tide and our partners to ensure that carer’s rights are afforded the protection that they are entitled to and rightly deserve.
Making Space is committed to working with tide and our partners to ensure that carer’s rights are afforded the protection that they are entitled to and rightly deserve.
Through our partnership project, ‘Law 4 Dementia Carers’ we will:
- Gather feedback from people’s lived experience to contribute to and inform the 6 month review that the Government will be conducting in September.
- Share information about the new legislation and what this means for carers of people with dementia; what the changes are, what they are aiming to achieve and how this is different from what is usually in place.
- Find different ways to engage with carers, sharing experience and learning from each other, about what this actually means in practice.
- Ensure that even in these difficult times, carers human rights are respected and maintained.
You can find out more about tide by following them on social media, Facebook and Twitter or by visiting the tide website, where you can also donate and join their mailing list.
We will be providing more information about the next steps of our project and how you can get involved very soon.
Watch the Law 4 Dementia Carers Webinar held in June 2020
Together in Dementia Everyday (TIDE) and Making Space, working with the Justice Hub at the University of Manchester held an online Zoom webinar called Law 4 Dementia Carers on Tuesday 23 June.
This webinar focused on legislation as it affects England and Wales. You can re watch the webinar to hear information from legal experts about the law and welfare issues that may affect you in your role as a carer of a person with dementia.
