Self Directed Support

What is self-directed support?

Self directed support means that you will have more control over how money allocated for your social care needs is spent.  You can use this money creatively to get the support you need to live your life as independently as possible. This is a change from the way social care services for adults have been delivered in the past, when it was the social care professional who took control of planning the support.

We want to ensure that if you need support from adult social care services, you will have more choice over how you can access the services you require – you have the opportunity to manage the money that we may give you for you social care support, should you wish to do so – this money is known as a Personal Budget.

How do I find out if I am eligible for a Personal Budget?

Personal Budgets are routinely available to people who are eligible for assistance from Adult Social Care services in Worcestershire. 

If think that you, or someone you care for, might be eligible, contact our Access Centre to speak to a customer advisor.
You can also visit our Fair Access to Care web pages to find out if you might be able to get help with your social care support. 

If you are not eligible for support from us, or you pay for your own support, you can still request an assessment of your care and support needs.  The Access Centre can also signpost you to other organisations that might be able to help you, or you can visit the Carewise website to find out about organisations and services in your area that can offer support.

How does self-directed support work?

The Access Service will carry out an initial screening with you.  If you are eligible to receive support from us, you may be referred to one of our early intervention support teams who can work with you to help you remain independent at home.  These services include:

• Promoting Independence service
• Assistive Technology Service
• Integrated Community Equipment Service
• Sensory Impairment service
• Rapid Response service
  

Prior to meeting with the social care professional we will send you a letter on which you can note the things that are important to you.  This gives you the opportunity to highlight the things that matter most to you and tell us what you hope to achieve – these are known as your outcomes.  When you meet with the social care professional, they can consider your notes and use this as a basis for the personal assessment which they will complete with you. 

You will also be asked to complete a financial assessment which will help us to work out how much you may have to pay towards the cost of your support.  This is also an opportunity for us to check that you are claiming all the benefits that you may be entitled to. 

Working out your Personal Budget

If you are eligible for social care support we will use the information from your personal and financial assessments to work out how much money you may be allocated  from social care funding and how much you may have to contribute towards the cost of your support.

This money is known as your 'indicative budget'.  It is called an indicative budget because this is just an estimate of the money you are likely to receive for your Personal Budget and will help you plan your support. 

Planning how to spend my personal budget

Once you know how much money you have to pay for your support you will then need to plan how you are going to spend this money so that you can live as independently as possible and get the most out of your life.  This plan is known as your Personal Support Plan.  You can write this yourself, or get a trusted friend, family member, carer or social work professional to help you.

When putting together your Personal Support Plan you need to focus on what you want to achieve and what you need to assist you with  living as independently as possible.  The Personal Support Plan puts the focus on 'outcomes' rather than services.  An 'outcome' means something you want to achieve, for example:

• What would you like to change in your life?
• Who and what is important to you?
• What do you want to keep the same?

You will also need to consider how you will be kept safe and well, and what you will do to ensure that you always have your support requirements covered, for example, when your carer goes on holiday. 

When your Personal Support Plan has been approved your final Personal Budget amount will be confirmed. 

If you feel the amount awarded in your Personal Budget is insufficient to meet your support requirements you can request that your social worker re-submits your case to the Resource Allocation Panel where your situation will be reconsidered along with any additional information.

Spending your Personal Budget

Once you have your Personal Budget you can start using the money to support you to be able to do the things that are most important to you to enable you to live as independently as possible.

How will things be monitored?

You will receive regular, ongoing reviews to check that things are still working for you, or whether things need to change.  If you have any issues this is an opportunity for you to discuss things.  You can request a review at any time should you feel that things are not working for you, or if your circumstances change.