Social care is help provided to people in their own home or in a care home. It may include home helps, meals-on-wheels or personal care - help with getting up, washing, dressing, feeding or going to the toilet.
How do I get help?
Anyone who has difficulty carrying out everyday tasks for themselves can ask for an assessment of their social care needs.
Contact your local authority’s social services or social work department for full information about assessments, including eligibility criteria and procedures and whether services are available free or at a charge.
Some local authorities may screen people before agreeing to an assessment so it is worth thinking about your care needs before you make the call.
Please be aware the services available in theory may be limited in practice by financial or operational constraints. It can also be a battle to get help because the condition is still misunderstood and its fluctuating nature may lead to frequent reviews of care and domestic needs.
There are three kinds of assessment:
Community care assessments
This section primarily contains information about community care assessments in England and Wales but many principles also apply in Northern Ireland and Scotland – please contact your local authority or Citizens Advice Bureau for advice.
If you have had experience of a community care assessment, children’s assessment or carer’s assessment, please tell us your story.
Here are the experiences of Dorothy, Diane, Edwina, Patricia, Peter.
Read past articles about social care in our InterAction archive.
