This week's publication of the Care and Support Green Paper shows - at last - that the challenges facing Britain's growing number of social carers are beginning to be recognised by policy and decision makers.

The current benefits system for carers - and their dependents - is a lottery. It's overly complex and, frankly, nothing short of scandalous.

The Government's paper acknowledges that unless urgent action is taken there will be a shortfall in funding for carers of at least £6 billion (an underestimate according to some experts)

It also outlines a number of different options for financing the growing cost of care.

These range from everyone being expected to fund their own care, to various combinations of self and state funding, to all care costs being met by the state directly via increased taxation.

The first and last of these proposals - full individual responsibility and full state funding - have already in effective been ruled out, meaning that in all likelihood the public will be expected to make at least some provision for their own care needs.

Although I join pressure groups in welcoming the belated attention of Whitehall to this underecognised problem, the real test in the coming weeks and months will be consulting with and incorporating the views of carers themselves.

For too long the voices and needs of the UK's hidden army of carers have gone unheard - or been ignored.

We now need to gauge precisely what their needs and requirements are and ensure that their views and experiences are incorporated fully into the debate, and into the final policy framework.

During the recent Carers Week initiative I and other Green Party colleagues here in Brighton and Hove were lucky enough to meet with some of those who are very much on this "caring frontline".

We were inspired and moved at the dedication and compassion of many we met (Brighton and Hove is home to around 23,000 carers, including some 500 children) and genuinely shocked at the difficulties many of them face.

All face considerable financial hardships and a host of other pressures - from problems with housing and transport to lack of access to appropriate support services.

(When you take into account that many of these carers receive less than £60 per week this is not surprising.)

But what really became apparant from our meetings and consultations is that no two cases are the same. Carers lives and circumstances are complex and their needs varied - and variable, week to week, day to day.

Carers and their dependents want to be consulted and to share their diverse experiences so that the public at large - as well as the decision makers - have a truly rounded understanding of their situation.

This week's Green Paper may indeed provide a broad-brush foundation for beginning to tackle this vast problem, but the bigger challenge will be developing policy solutions that are both universally applicable and sensitive to individual needs.