The purpose of a care and support assessment is to find out:
- what you can do for yourself (your strengths)
- what help and support you have or could have from the people in the community around you
- the things you may need some support with to keep you well and independent
Who can get a care and support assessment
You must be:
- 18 years old or over
- living in Leicestershire
- appear to have needs for care and support
If you're not eligible for care and support from us
Not everyone who has a care and support assessment will be eligible for support however we will still provide advice and information to help you to stay well and independent:
Before the care and support assessment
It might be helpful to start having a think about what you do every day and who helps you at the moment, so that you’re prepared for the questions.
How to apply for a care and support assessment
If you’ve not had an assessment from us previously, the easiest and quickest way to find out whether you might be eligible for care and support is to complete our online needs assessment form on the Adult Social Care Portal.
Find further information and guidance about the Adult Social Care Portal.
Complete online needs assessment form
The form will take about 30 minutes to complete and will ask questions about yourself and the people who support you at the moment.
You can save the form and return to it later by completing our simple registration process; all you’ll need is a valid email address to register with us. You can complete it yourself or get someone to do it for you.
You can also request a care and support assessment by contacting Adult Social Care however there is a waiting list and priority is given to the most vulnerable people in our community who need help the most.
You can request a:
- joint assessment with you and your carer if you have one, which will take both of your needs into account
- separate care and support assessment and carer’s assessment
This form is not for reporting abuse or safeguarding issues.
Help with the care and support assessment process
You can ask someone to be with you and support you during our conversation. This might be your partner, a family member, friend, neighbour or the person who looks after you.
If you have significant difficulties in understanding the assessment process and have no one suitable to help you, we can organise an independent advocate to speak for you.
After you've completed the assessment
We’ll give you a copy of your assessment and a decision about whether you have eligible care and support needs or not.
There are three conditions which determine eligibility:
- you have needs due to a physical or mental impairment or illness
- you are unable to carry out at least two daily activities
- there is a significant impact on your wellbeing as a result of not being able to carry out these activities
If you're not happy with the eligibility decision
If you'd like to appeal the eligibility decision, you can talk to the Adult Social Care worker who carried out your assessment and ask for more information on why this decision was made.
If you’re still not happy with the outcome, then you can contact the Customer Relations Manager to make a complaint.
If you're eligible, what happens next
If you’re eligible, an adult social care worker will have a conversation with you about your current situation. This will help us to understand your needs for care and support and what you want to achieve.
Together we can use this information to support you to find the right solutions. This might range from information and advice to arranging services to meet your needs.
You'll also need to complete a financial assessment for care at home or a financial assessment for a care home to work out how much you'll need to pay towards your care and support. Adult Social Care is not free and most people have to pay something towards it.
Care and support plan
Where we have identified you have eligible needs in your assessment, we’ll work with you to develop a care and support plan. This sets out how your needs can be best met.
We may meet your needs by recommending equipment, technology or a period of short term care known as reablement.
Before a final support plan is agreed the adult social care worker will use the information from your assessment to estimate how much your care and support needs will cost. This is called your estimated personal budget.
Reviewing your care and support plan
Your care and support plan will be reviewed after 6 weeks to see how things are working. Your care and support plan will then be scheduled for a further review approximately 12 months afterwards.
What should I do if my care and support needs change?
If your situation changes and you need or want to make changes to your support plan, you will need to contact Adult social care.