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It is "utterly unconvincing" that protection for carers cannot be on the face of the Equality Bill, a leading academic has said.
Speaking to the all-party parliamentary group on carers, Luke Clements from Cardiff Law School argued that the Equality Bill was an "essential piece of legislation".
And he told the meeting on Thursday that discrimination law "has got to be codified".
Clements played a lead role in the drafting of the Carers (Recognition and Services) Act 1995 and the Carers (Equal Opportunities) Act 2004.
Chairman of the Welsh affairs committee Hywel Francis highlighted bills in support of carers brought forward by himself, Lord Pendry and Malcolm Wicks.
"It is the fifth anniversary of my Carers Equal Opportunities Act," he said. "I would like to place on record my appreciation... of all of you throughout the country who put in special effort to bring that about."
Clements explained that Wicks' legislation had been "groundbreaking", being the first Bill to focus on carers in the Western world.
He continued: "Lord Pendry's Bill we see a slight move up with that, because a very important part of that Bill was that carers could get an assessment in their own right, even if the disabled person wasn't getting any assessment at all... Carers were given the right to a free-standing assessment."
The law expert also praised Francis's Bill for trying to "break the mould" and recognise carers as "socially excluded people".
This "handicap" must be tackled through access to training, education, leisure and employment activities, he added.
Tony Baldry (Con, Banbury) raised the issue of a possible judicial review stemming from the Equality Bill if the role of carers is seen as comparable with disability or race issues.
Clements responded that would always be judicial reviews "whilst there are lawyers". "But I don't think that is the way that we will solve it," he added.
"I think eventually there will be an amendment and it will just be on the face of the legislation. It will take time."
Dods Parliamentary Communications Ltd