Social care assessment

A social care conversation record assessment is for an adult aged 18 and above. 

It is a discussion between you and your social worker that helps us to understand:

• the things that are important to you and your family
• the things that you find difficult to do in your daily life
• how this affects your health and wellbeing
• any care and support you receive from your family and friends
• what would you like to achieve with care and support
• the things you can do to keep you healthy, active, and independent.
   

Your conversation record is a very important part of the social care process. The assessment will help us to work out if you are eligible to receive social care and support from us. 

Any adult who may have care and support needs can have a conversation record assessment. Anyone who looks after another adult and may need help to continue to care for them can have a carer's assessment.

If you think you or someone you know may need care and support, call us on 01642 771500 to arrange a conversation record assessment or carer’s assessment.

When you contact us, we will ask you some questions that help will us decide the best way to help you. This help might include:

• providing information
• providing advice
• arranging for you to have an assessment.

A full assessment for social care and support will be carried out face to face. This will take place somewhere you feel comfortable, usually in your home or where you are staying, and will be at a time that suits you. 

The person who carries out your conversation record will be a trained social worker with the right skills, knowledge and training to be able to help you. The social worker will explain the assessment process to you and will tell you how long things are likely to take. 

When your social worker visits you for your assessment, they will bring an assessment form with them. We will write down what is important to you to help us understand your needs and how best to help you. 

We will send you a copy of the questions before your assessment takes place, so you know what to expect. 

When you have your assessment, you may wish to have someone with you, for example, a relative, friend, or someone who cares for you. 

If you need help communicating your views, we will make sure you have the right support to enable you to tell us your views and wishes. 

We will keep your information confidential and only share it with relevant services where necessary and with your consent.

When the assessment is finished, you will need to sign the form to say you agree with what has been written.

Your social worker will take the assessment away to record your information onto our system. They will print a copy of the assessment and send this to you. 

We use national guidelines to decide if your needs are at a level where the Council should plan care and support services for you. This is set by the government to make sure that everyone is treated fairly and equally.

If you are eligible for social care support, you will receive a care and support plan - a written record about how your care and support needs will be met. Visit our care and support plan webpages for more information.

If you are eligible, we will give you a financial assessment form to complete. This will help us to work out if you will need to contribute to your care and support.

After the assessment, we can work together to write a care and support plan about how you will be supported, your choices about the support you need to achieve your desired outcomes and arrangements you wish to put in place.

We might decide you need to pay for some of the support we provide or arrange for you. If you are eligible, we will need to see how much money you have to work out what you may be required to pay towards the services you receive. We will do this by asking you to complete a financial assessment form. 

If you don't want to tell us about your finances, you can opt to pay the full cost of your care and support.

More information can be found on our Paying for care and support webpage.

If you are not eligible for social care, we will offer you information and advice that will help you to live independently.

We will provide you with a personal wellbeing pack with information and advice that relates to the issues discussed in your assessment. 

You can find out more about how needs and eligibility are assessed in our Guide to Needs Assessment and Eligibility. 

Alternative formats are available in the Social care assessment section of our Adult Social Care Information Guides wepage.

We understand that there may be times when you are not satisfied with a decision made regarding your care and support. If you do not agree with a decision, you can request a reconsideration.

More information can be found in our Guide to Reconsideration of Assessment or Support Plan.

Alternative formats are available in the Social care assessment section of our Adult Social Care Information Guides.