Your top questions answered in our social care Q&A

5 mins read

Thursday 22 August 2024

Tags: carer's assessments, social care, facebook q&a, needs assessments, personal budgets, direct payments

This story applies to England only.

Last week, parent carers attended our Facebook Q&A on Social Care, Rights & Processes to get expert, live advice from our parent advisers.

And for those who missed it, we’ve summarised the most frequently discussed topics that came up and our advisers’ answers, below.

You can see all questions and answers on our Facebook page.

How do I ask for a needs assessment?

You can ask for an assessment verbally. But it is best to ask for a ‘Section 17 Children in Needs assessment’ in writing. You can do this yourself, or a professional who is helping you can do it for you.

If you’re not sure which local authority you come under, type your postcode into the search bar at www.gov.uk/find-local-council

We have template letters you can use to request an assessment.

How long should it take from assessment to getting the final ‘care plan’?

From the day of request, it should take 45 days. Our parent guide ‘Services and support from your local authority’ has more information about this on page 16.

You could make a complaint if your assessment isn’t meeting this timeframe.

What is a carer’s assessment?

A carer’s assessment is an opportunity for you to discuss your needs as a parent carer with your local authority. The aim is for social services to know what services and support would make things easier to look after the child or person in your care. It’s also an opportunity to discuss how your caring role affects you.

All carers (including young carers) can ask for an assessment at any time. The Children and Families Act 2014 explains the rights of carers with ‘parental responsibility’ to have an assessment upon request. In addition, the local authority can carry out a carers assessment where there is an appearance of need for support.

Take a look at our carer’s assessments factsheet for more information.

What happens if we are refused a carer’s assessment?

You have a right to a carer’s assessment. Your way to challenge this is to make a complaint. We have specific information on how to do this on our “Making a complaint about services” page.

The law says that a child and family should be assessed at request or appearance of need.

Make sure to always put requests in writing by email to give you a good log of correspondence. If the local authority continues to refuse to do an assessment, you may have to make a more formal complaint.

Can I record phone conversations with the local authority?

You would need a worker’s permission to record meetings and visits. If the worker does not give consent, you should not record them.

If you are looking to keep a log of any conversations you have with the local authority, it might be worth keeping conversations to email only. This way they’ll all be in writing.

What happens if the local authority refuses to discuss our child’s transition to adult services?

If a child is likely to have needs when they turn 18, the local authority must carry out a ‘child’s need assessment’ before then to determine what these will be.

The local authority will carry out the assessment if it considers it a ‘significant benefit’ to the child to do so. There is no specific age or time before a child turns 18 at which the assessment must take place. The statutory guidance suggests that these assessments take place when it is easier to understand what the needs of the child and carer will be beyond the age of 18.

There’s more information about these processes on our page ‘Moving into adult services’.

What is a ‘personal budget’?

A personal budget sets out the amount of money that is available to spend on support for your child, to meet their assessed needs.

This money may come from your local social services team, local education department, or in some cases from your NHS integrated care board (ICB). If you receive funding from the NHS, this is known as a personal health budget.

You can read more on our website or in our factsheet.

Can I refuse the support offered?

Yes, you can refuse an offer of support. Or you can decide that an offer of support is not sufficient and challenge the decision about the level of support. Always ensure you do this in writing, by email.

You can dispute the level of support on offer whilst also still using it in the interim.

If nothing is done, you can make a complaint that the care plan is not meeting need.

Can I decide what we use ‘Direct Payments’ on?

Children’s services should make it clear what you can use ‘direct payments’ for. They should be for a child’s specific assessed needs.

If they’ve not told you what the payments are for, you should ask for this information in writing. If you have an idea of the sort of service that might meet your child’s needs, you can suggest this to the local authority during the assessment process.