Planning ahead can help make care sustainable and manageable if things change. Creating a plan by writing down what care the person needs and what others should do, ensures that others can step in, if you unable to continue providing support for any reason.

Carers UK website contains help and guidance on creating your own plan Getting help in an emergency | Carers UK (external website)

Find out more about future care planning on Carers First (external website).

You may want to talk to the person with care needs about setting up a lasting power of attorney for themselves (you may wish to look even further ahead and set up one for yourself). A lasting power of attorney is a legal document that allows someone to make decisions for you, or act on your behalf, if you’re no longer able to or if you no longer want to make your own decisions.

In England, there are two types of lasting power of attorney:

• One covers making decisions about finances and property and can start working while the person still has capacity.

• The other deals with decisions about health and welfare and only comes into force when the person loses capacity to make their own decisions.

You need to plan ahead for this as the person making the LPA must have the mental capacity to consent to getting an LPA.

If the person you care for doesn’t have the capacity to make a lasting power of attorney, it is still possible to get the legal agreements needed to make decisions for them by applying to the Court of Protection.

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