How to get help from adult social care for yourself or someone else.
At some point in your life, you may need help from adult social care. Our aim is to support your independence and wellbeing and enable you to live well.
We support adults (aged 18 and over) whose disability, health condition or illness affects their ability to live independently and carry out everyday activities such as:
If you provide unpaid care for an adult on a regular basis, you are entitled to a carer's assessment. For advice, please see help and advice for carers.
Our map of your adult social care journey shows how you can access information about our services and how we will support you to check if you're eligible for adult social care and how best to meet your needs.
To find out if you, or the person you care for, is eligible for adult social care, you will need to complete an adult social care assessment. The short video below provides further information.
There are three ways to ask for an adult social care assessment.
The online self-assessment can be completed by you or someone else on your behalf.
Once submitted, we’ll contact you to offer advice or to continue the assessment with you.
If we find it’s likely you need help, you can then choose to complete a full assessment which is a more detailed look at your life, including what is going well and what you might need further support with.
If you prefer not to complete a detailed self-assessment, you can use our referral form to refer yourself or someone else.
We will ask you which areas of your life you need support with and general background information.
Once you have submitted the referral form, we will contact you to provide advice on how your support needs can be met or to arrange a full assessment.
If you would prefer to speak to someone in adult social care, you can contact us by:
If you need equipment or support to help you or someone else stay independent at home, you will need to complete an occupational therapy assessment.
If you need help understanding the forms, you could ask an advocate to help.
You can also:
If you're calling about someone who cannot make decisions, you may need the legal right to manage their care. See help to make decisions about your life.
Adult social care services are not free for everyone. Most people will have to pay something towards the cost of their care, with some people having to pay the full cost.
Once you’ve completed your adult social care assessment, you will need to complete a financial assessment so we can work out how much (if anything) you will need to pay.
Our online contribution calculator can give you an idea of how much you may be expected to pay.
See paying for and arranging your own care for more information.
Our website offers a range of helpful resources including: