Request a social care needs assessment

Request an assessment

You can request an assessment for yourself, or someone else can request one for you.

You may be referred by:

• a social worker
• health professional such as a doctor or health visitor
• any other agency.

Contact us if you need help completing the form.

Why might an assessment be right for me?

We aim to support people to stay independent and able to live the life they want to. A needs assessment may help identify your care needs and tell you what support is available to meet those needs. 

You might want to request a needs assessment if you are experiencing difficulties due to:

• frailty
• physical health issues
• disability
• learning difficulties
• mental health issues

You can also ask for an assessment if you are a carer. 

How to find out if I am eligible

We use the national eligibility criteria set out in the Care Act 2014 to find out whether you qualify for support from us. The assessment will help us to understand your needs and decide whether you are eligible. The Care Act 2014 states that to quality for support you must meet the following conditions:

1. Your needs arise from or are related to physical health, mental health, frailty, impairment or disability.
2. You have difficulty achieving (or cannot achieve) at least two of the outcomes listed below because of your physical health, mental health, frailty, impairment or disability. These outcomes are everyday tasks or activities:
   • manage and maintain your nutrition
   • manage your personal hygiene
   • use the toilet
   • clothe yourself appropriately
   • use your home safely
   • maintain a habitable home environment
   • develop and maintain family and other personal relationships
   • access and engage in work, training, education or volunteering
   • use facilities or services in your local community, such as public transport
   • carry out caring responsibilities for your child
3. There is or there is likely to be a significant impact on your wellbeing as a result of the above criteria. 

Borrow daily living aids

We can support you to access daily living aids to use around your home to remain independent as much as possible. You don’t need a needs assessment to consider these pieces of equipment. 

Daily living aids are designed to help you with your everyday jobs. From perching stools to grab rails, our daily living aids can enable you to carry on living safely, independently and confidently in your home.

Who can ask for an assessment?

You can request a needs assessment or ask for someone else to request it for you. These people include:

• a social worker
• a health professional, such as a doctor or health visitor
• any other agency
• a family member

What happens at the needs assessment?

At the needs assessment we will work with you to establish your social care needs by finding out what would make the biggest difference to help you live as independently as possible. 

Sometimes, you might find it helpful for us to speak with your partner, family or friends to find out exactly the kind of support you need. We can do this by telephone or in person. However, it’s often better to do it in your own home or one of our clinics as it helps us to build up a complete picture of you and the different aspects of your life. 

What we talk about

Some of the things we’ll learn about include:

• what is important to you
• your physical health
• your emotional health
• how you look after yourself
• what your priorities are for living well and independently
• the people who   are important to you, such as family, friends or neighbours

Tell us what you think

At the needs assessment, we want to make sure that you are able to find out everything you need to know about your care, advice and support. You’ll get the chance to talk about:

• how we can communicate
• how you would like to live your life and what’s important to you
• your strengths and the areas you would like support with 
• when you need support 
• how you would like to be supported 
• any religious or cultural needs that you have
• your community and who is important 

Help at the assessment

The assessment is all about you and it’s important that you are fully involved in making these key decisions, getting all of the information you need about your care and support. To enable this to happen, you can have someone else to help you. 

The person supporting you with an assessment is called an advocate, they are there to make sure that you understand what’s happening and can make informed decisions. Your advocate could be a family member or friend. You could also be eligible to receive support from an independent advocate.

• Find out more about advocates

What happens after the needs assessment?

Learn more about how we can support you after your needs assessment has taken place.

More about needs assessments