How we assess your needs

Before we can help you to identify your support needs we need to know more about you and your personal circumstances, so when considering approaching adult social care for support you should first give consideration to the following:

Have you done all you can do to help yourself?
Is there anyone else who can help you? For example, a family member or a friend ,or it might be that organisations such as Age UK (opens new window), Citizens Advice (opens new window) or Sunderland Carers' Centre (opens new window), might be able to help you first.

If you do approach us for an assessment and you haven't sought to help yourself in the first instance we will seek to provide you with information, advice and guidance, about how you might do so, before offering you an assessment.

There may be occasions when you may need a helping hand to help you get back on your feet or start to look after yourself again. Where we think this might help we would always do this before offering you an assessment of need. For example:

A small piece of equipment might be all you need to help you use the bath or the stairs.
An Occupational Therapist may work with you to understand how you might live more independently at home
A Physiotherapist may be able to help you get back on the move again after an unexpected illness or accident.

We can help you in each of these ways without you requiring an "Assessment of need" by Adult Social Care.

Support during an assessment

You may prefer to have someone with you during the assessment - this could be a social care worker, an advocate, family member or friend.

If you need assistance with the assessment, and have no one who is appropriate to help, we can arrange for an independent person, called an advocate, to be present. An advocate is a person who is specially trained to support an individual through the process of assessment and arranging care and support.

Eligibility

We apply a three-stage test to determine your eligibility based on the National Minimum Eligibility Criteria as outlined in the Care Act 2014. This is the national threshold, set out by the government.

To be eligible for support:

Your needs must arise from (or be related to) a physical or mental impairment or illness, and
The issues you face must have a significant impact on your wellbeing, and
You must be unable to achieve two or more of the following activities without assistance:

Eating and drinking
Maintaining your personal hygiene
Managing your toilet needs
Wearing appropriate clothes
Maintaining a habitable home environment
Being able to make safe use of your home
Developing and maintaining family or other personal relationships
Accessing and engaging in work, training, education or volunteering
Making use of necessary service or facilities in the local community, including public transport and recreational facilities or services
Carrying out any caring responsibilities for a child

Note: even if you are able to achieve the activities listed above, you would still be eligible for support if you are:

Able to achieve it without assistance but doing so causes you significant pain, distress or anxiety
Able to achieve it without assistance but doing so endangers or is likely to endanger the health and safety of you or of others
Able to achieve it without assistance but takes significantly longer than would normally be expected

These national criteria are standard across the country, making the system fair. It also means that it is easier to more between local authority areas, if you need to.

If you are eligible, we will provide a Care and Support Plan.

Wellbeing

We have a duty to look after your wellbeing:

Maintaining your personal dignity (including treating you with respect)
Looking after your physical and mental health, as well as your emotional wellbeing
Protecting you from abuse and neglect
Supporting you to take control over your own day-to-day life (including care and support and the way it is provided)
Supporting you to participate in work, education, training or recreation
Supporting your social and economic wellbeing
Supporting you to balance your domestic, family and personal relationships
Making sure your living accommodation is suitable for you and your needs
Supporting the way you contribute to society

If you qualify for care and support you will be allocated a personal budget.

A personal budget is the amount of money we think you need to meet your needs. We will always tell you how much your personal budget is.

Receiving a personal budget means you can decide what support you need to help you live a fulfilling life.

To qualify for a personal budget you will first have to have an assessment with us.

The amount of money you are allocated is based on the 'eligible needs' you have at that time. Eligible needs are those which we have a duty to support you with.

The personal budget gives you clear information regarding the money that has been allocated to meet your needs identified in the assessment. The detail of how the personal budget will be used is set out in your care and support plan.

At the start of your care and support planning we will tell you an estimate of how much money you may receive. This amount will be finalised by the end of the care and support planning process.

You can use a personal budget in a variety of ways, as long as it is directly related to meeting your 'eligible needs' for social care support. These needs will be outlined in your care and support plan.

Assessed as not meeting the eligibility criteria

If you do not agree with the decision about your eligibility, please contact us to appeal the decision.

If you think that you or someone you care for could benefit from an assessment:

Apply For Help With Your Care And Support Needs

or phone our Health and wellbeing team.