Explains your rights to social care, and how this differs from healthcare. Includes information on eligibility, needs assessments, financial assessments, and how local authorities may meet your needs.
View this information as a PDF (new window)
The first stage in getting any social care is for the local authority to assess your needs, called a needs assessment. This is so the local authority (local council) can gain a full picture of what kinds of care and support needs you have, so they can make informed decisions about whether you're eligible for support.
Your local authority cannot charge you for a needs assessment, whatever your financial circumstances are.
The local authority is under a legal duty to assess you if:
The local authority might think that you may have a need for care and support if:
Although it's the social services department that is responsible for assessing needs, if any part of the local authority becomes aware that you may have needs for care and support, then the local authority is under a duty to assess you.
The council has written to Rapha about his rent arrears. His sister has written back to the council to explain that Rapha has a mental health problem which means that he's been off work for several months. She explains that he's having difficulty caring for himself and looking after his finances.
Although the housing department of the council is separate from the social services department, the fact that the housing department is made aware that Rapha may have needs for care and support will mean that the local authority is under a duty to assess him.
The law on social care says that local authorities should think about how they can prevent your needs for care and support from developing. So if you don't currently have needs, but you're likely to develop them, you may wish to contact your local authority to tell them you want a needs assessment.
The local authority must assess you even if it believes you may not be eligible for care and support. They have a duty to assess you simply if it appears that you may have needs. Even if you're found not to have any, the assessment process may still help you, for example by providing useful information, or suggesting other types of community support.
There's no set timescale for the assessment process. The local authority should give you some sort of indication of how long it should take for your assessment to be completed. Normally it shouldn't take longer than four to six weeks, unless your assessment is complex.
An assessment can be carried out in a number of ways:
You'll be assessed by someone who has the right skills, training and experience. This may be:
Your condition may mean that you have good times when you don't need much care and support, and bad times when your needs are greater. Your assessment should take account of the fact that your needs may fluctuate (change in a way you can't predict).
This means that the local authority might:
The assessment will focus on your wellbeing.
Wellbeing means:
The assessment must also cover:
The assessment will focus on your wellbeing.
Wellbeing means:
The assessment must also cover:
It's very important that the local authority involves you as much as possible in your assessment. This means they should consider things like:
Before your assessment, you might like to make a note of some of the things you want from the assessment and care and support planning process. You can then take this note to your assessment to help you discuss your needs.
Here are some things you might want to think about before your assessment:
Yes – if you refuse a needs assessment then the local authority is not under a duty to assess you. But there are some exceptions.
You can't refuse a needs assessment if:
If you've refused an assessment, but you change your mind and want the local authority to assess you, then they must do so. Similarly, if you've refused an assessment, but the local authority considers that there has been a change of circumstances, then they must carry out an assessment if that is what you want.
This is an assessment for carers, to find out what their needs for support are.
See our full list of legal terms.This is published guidance that tells local authorities how they should meet their legal obligations under the Care Act and the regulations under it. Local authorities must follow it, unless they can show a legal reason why they can't.
You might also sometimes see it referred to as the 'Care and support statutory guidance', or the 'Statutory guidance issued under the Care Act 2014'.
See our full list of legal terms.This information was published in February 2018. We will revise it in 2021.
References are available on request. If you would like to reproduce any of this information, see our page on permissions and licensing.