This report describes a joit Anglo-Swedish project to develop and pilot both a new instrument, the Carers Outcome Agreement Tool (COAT), and a new model of working with family carers based om creating partnership between carers, practitioners and service systems. Most countries are pursuing a policy of community care for older people and vast majority of the help that older need to remain at home is provided by their family. Ensuring appropriate and senitive support sevices for family carers is therefore a major policy priority. COAT has been designed to help overcome existing limitations by promoting a new approach to carer assesement and service provision. It builds om several years of research om carer assement, and is based om a model that views the carer as a `co-expert`. Carers and practitioners therefore work together to agree the type of goals and outcomes that carers see as important, and the support needed to achieve these.