How to get adult social care support

Find out your care needs

Download our eligibility criteria for adult social care and support.

If you need products or services to help you live your life independently, you can use our online diagnostic tools to help you find the right product and services for your needs. 

Find out more about our adult social care assessment tools.

Social care assessments

You may be able to get adult social care if you need some extra care or support. To get social care you will need to complete a social care assessment to find out what your care needs are and what support you could get.

During the social care assessment, we will:

  • identify what needs to change
  • check if you could be eligible for financial support to pay towards your care through a financial assessment
  • find the best way that your needs can be met.

Get a social care assessment

To get a social care assessment: 

If you’re a professional such as a social worker, police officer, housing officer or work in healthcare or the voluntary sector you must make a professional referral to adult social care online.

We do not take professional referrals by phone or email.

If you’re in hospital

If you are in hospital, you can get your social care needs assessed while you are there by asking to speak to your hospital social worker about support when you return home.

You can also get support from:

  • reablement care which can help you relearn your everyday skills, mobility and independence. Call 01634 334 466 for an assessment
  • a care home if you think you can no longer manage at home.

After your social care assessment

After a social care assessment, a decision will be made about if you meet the national eligibility criteria and need social care.

If you need social care, a support plan will be created for you as to how your needs will be met and who will support you. This could be changes to your home to make it more accessible, or someone coming to your home to help you out during the week.

We will then arrange to do a financial assessment to see if:

  • you will need to fund this care yourself
  • you'll be partly funded
  • your care will be paid for you.

Jargon buster

If you’re confused by the words social care workers use to describe your care, you can look a word up in the Jargon Buster on the Think Local Act Personal (TLAP) website.

Their jargon buster is a directory with plain English definitions of commonly used words and phrases in health and social care.