Find out how your local authority can help you to get the right support in place, whether you’re in need of care yourself or looking after someone else.
-
How to get a Care Needs assessment
A good first step is to ask your local authority for a free care assessment. They’ll look at your care needs and finances to understand what level of support you need, and how it’ll be paid for.
Even if you’re planning to pay for care yourself, it’s still wise to ask for this free assessment to help you decide what care is best for you.
Your right to an assessment
Anyone who is 'ordinarily resident', meaning they consider their home to be in the local authority area, is entitled to an assessment of their care needs.
If it’s not clear which area you’re settled in, it’s up to the local authorities to settle it between themselves. But one of them needs to take responsibility for assessing your needs and, if needed, paying for your care, until they resolve this.
How to arrange an assessment
To arrange an assessment, get in touch with your local authority’s Adult Social Care team. You can do this for yourself or ask a friend, family member, GP or community nurse to do this for you. If you’re arranging an assessment for someone else, you’ll need to ask their permission.
Waiting times for an assessment
There are no national rules for how quickly an assessment must be done but waiting times depend on the urgency of your need and how ‘at risk’ you are. Your council has a duty to do the assessment as soon as is appropriate and reasonable.
Understanding the different assessment methods
Your care assessment can be done over the phone or in person, usually with a social worker or a care manager from the social services department.
- Face-to-face assessment – A meeting in person with a qualified assessor, such as a social worker
- Support self-assessment – You’re given the tools and resources to assess your own needs
- Joint assessment – Where different agencies work together to assess you once, rather than asking you to have multiple assessments
- Online or phone assessment – If your needs are less complex, you might be asked to complete your assessment online or over the phone. If this isn’t right for you, you have a right to ask for an assessment in person
- Combined assessment – Where your needs assessment is combined with an assessment of your carer’s needs. You’re both entitled to separate assessments if you prefer.
Recognising that you might need care can be challenging, and so can asking for support. A care assessment will help you to understand what you need to help protect your quality of life, so it’s worth taking some time beforehand to think, and talk it through with loved ones. Here are some ideas to help you get ready:
- Think in advance about anything you want to talk about in the assessment and make a note of it.
- Make a list of your needs as you see them, including any tasks you find difficult.
- Keep a diary for a few days, noting the activities you find hard or can’t manage at all. Don’t forget to include notes on your mood and how you feel.
- Help the person assessing you to understand your health background by giving them as much detail as possible, like a list of medication or contact details for your doctor.
- Ask for support from a friend or loved one - they can join you for your assessment if you want them to.
- If you think you’ll have trouble communicating during your assessment, let the council know in advance so they can arrange the right support for you.
Preparing for your assessment
Part 1: Looking at your care and support needs
To help you and your local authority understand what sort of care is right for you.Part 2: Deciding on the right level of care
And whether the council will provide your care or arrange it for you.Part 3: Looking at your finances
To decide who'll cover the cost of the care you need.Help for carers
You’re also entitled to an assessment of your needs if you’re looking after a loved one as an unpaid carer. The local authority may then be able to check what state benefits you could claim and offer you respite care or training.
You can ask for a carers assessment at the same time as the local authority looks into the needs of the person needing care, or you can ask for it separately by contacting the Adult Social Care team.
-
What to expect
You’ll be asked questions about your daily life and any tasks you’ve started to find challenging or are no longer able to do. You can expect to talk about your physical health, but the local authority should take into account your general wellbeing, emotional and cultural needs, too.
If there’s a part of your life particularly important to you and you’re worried you’ll no longer be able to carry on with it because of poor health or disability, it’s important to make your assessor aware of it.
If your assessed needs meet a set of national eligibility conditions, your local authority will then decide whether it has a legal duty to meet those needs.
You’ll meet the national eligibility criteria if you:
- have needs because of a physical or mental impairment or illness;
- can’t achieve two or more outcomes in the care needs listed in the box to the right;
- have needs that are likely to significantly impact your wellbeing.
Outcomes for people with care needs
- Managing and maintaining your nutrition
- Washing yourself and looking after personal hygiene
- Going to the toilet
- Dressing yourself
- Being safe at home
- Being able to keep your home clean and suitable to live in
- Keeping connected with family and friends
- Going to work or to volunteer, or accessing training and education
- Using services in your local community
You’ll be eligible for help if:
- You have needs connected with giving care, and
- Those needs mean your physical or mental health is getting worse or at risk, or
- You aren’t able to achieve one or more outcomes from the list below, and
- Your needs are likely to have a significant effect on your wellbeing.
Outcomes for carers
- Providing care to the person who needs it
- Keeping up a safe and clean home environment
- Managing and maintaining your nutrition
- Keeping connected to family and friends
- Going to work or to volunteer, or accessing training and education
- Using services in your local community
- Enjoying hobbies and activities
If you’re a carer looking for advice or local support services, take a look the Carers UK website. They’re a charity that specialises in supporting unpaid carers.
-
What next
The person who does your assessment should let you know whether the local authority will provide care or arrange it for you, and give you a copy of your care plan.
Your care plan should include:
- A summary of your needs
- Details of what support you’ll need to meet your needs
- An explanation of any charges you’ll need to pay (following a financial assessment)
- Information about the help carers and others can give you
- A date when your assessment and services will be reviewed.
Your local authority can also help you to find care
If you’d rather have help to arrange care, the Adult Social Care team at your local authority can help.
If you’re eligible for funding
If you qualify for financial support but would prefer to arrange the care yourself, you're free to do so. You should ensure the care provider can meet your needs, has availability and that their costs are within the personal budget you've been set by the Adult Social Care team.
Once you've found a provider, inform your local authority and they'll be able to discuss payment arrangements with you and the provider.
If you’re self-funding
You have the ‘right to request’ help from the local authority to find services that meet your assessed needs for care at home. The authority has a legal duty to help, but they're allowed to charge you a reasonable ‘arrangement fee’ for this service.
For care in a care home, a local authority will generally only arrange this if you lack mental capacity and can’t make these arrangements yourself. If you can’t make arrangements and have no family to help you, then the authority still have a duty of care to assist you in finding a home.
Challenging a decision
If you think the outcome of your care needs, carers or financial assessment isn’t right, you should first ask for an explanation of the local authority’s decision in writing. You can then ask them to reconsider the areas where you feel they’ve reached the wrong conclusion, giving them any additional information they’ll need to change their decision.
- Contact your local authority and ask for a copy of their formal complaints procedure and contact details for the Local Government Monitoring Officer. Their role is to make sure the local authority is following all relevant guidance and legislation.
- Make your formal complaint and send a copy to the Monitoring Officer.
- If the local authority doesn’t change its decision, they’ll explain how to take your complaint to the Care Ombudsman.
- Keep your complaint focused on where you feel a mistake has been made in the assessment process.
- Share any evidence you have, like bank statements or medical reports.
- Give details of any correspondence you’ve had with the local authority, including names and dates.
- It isn’t necessary for you to have legal representation, but you can if you wish to.
- Typically, you have 12 months to make a complaint from the date you receive the care assessment decision. The local authority should respond within six months, but often it’s quicker.
If you can’t resolve things with the local authority, you can ask the care ombudsman to take a look at your complaint. In England, this is called the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman (LGO). In Wales you can escalate your complaint to the Public Services Ombudsman. In Scotland, it’s the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman and in Northern Ireland, it’s called the Northern Ireland Public Services Ombudsman.
Read more
Understanding your options
While they’re the most well known, care homes aren’t your only option. Find out about other potential options, such as home adaptations.
Paying for care
Taking a few minutes to understand the costs and how to pay for the care can really help when it comes to making future decisions
Finding care
Whether you need some help at home or want to find out more about Care Homes in your area, we have information on where to search and what questions to ask.