Assessing your social care needs

In order to work out what support or equipment and adaptations you need, and how we can help with the cost, we need to carry out an assessment. This page explains the process.

• Request an assessment
• Assessing your needs
• Agreeing a budget and plan
• If you disagree with our assessment
• Confidentiality
• Our standards

Request an assessment

Use our interactive form to explain what the issues are. If you are completing the form on behalf of another person, you should ask them if they agree to you completing the form and sharing their information with us.

Based on your answers, the form will tell you if you are likely to benefit from an assessment by us. At the end, the form will ask if you want to send your answers to us.

Click on the red button below to access the online form:

Complete Adult Social Care Eligibility Checker

After referring yourself

If you choose to send us your answers, our First Response Team will contact you, usually by telephone, to discuss the information you have included in the form.

First Response Team contact details:

• 020 8489 1400
• firstresponseteam@haringey.gov.uk

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Assessing your needs

Who you will meet with

Appointments may be made for a social worker, an occupational therapist and/or a financial assessor to visit you. This gives you the opportunity to discuss your situation in more detail and helps you decide if you wish to continue with the assessment.

The social worker will look at the full range of your needs, what other kinds of help you receive and what additional help you are eligible for.

The occupational therapist will tell you if there is any equipment or any adaptations that would help you meet your needs. If they meet all your needs, you do not need to go any further in this process.

The financial assessor will check that you’re receiving all the welfare benefits you’re entitled to. You may also be entitled to money from other sources as well as a personal budget - for adapting your home, for equipment you might need, or housing-related support. The assessment will review your financial circumstances and confirm how much financial contribution you will make towards your budget.

Mental health assessments

If you, or someone you know, needs a referral to Mental Health services, you will need to contact your GP, or another health or social care professional who already knows you. They will make a referral to the Barnet, Enfield and Haringey Mental Health Trust’s Assessment Team.

What you will talk about

During the appointment we have made with you at home, you will have the chance to tell us about:

• yourself and your life
• what is important to you
• what is working well for you, what’s not, and what is preventing you living the way you want
• what support you are already receiving

We’ll talk to you about

• what other sort of support might be available, from Haringey Council or other organisations
• what you want to change, how and what help you need to make this happen
• what would happen without these changes.
• how decisions are made

You will receive a copy of the completed assessment and what your indicative personal budget might be. We can also give a copy to someone else if you give your permission.

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Agreeing a budget and plan

Personal budgets

Based on your answers in the form and the face to face appointment, and any other information we have about your needs we will decide if you are eligible for help. We will tell you your personal budget, which is the amount of money required to pay for services you need, taking into account other sources of help you have. We will ask you to pay a contribution towards this based on your financial assessment.

You might receive this personal budget as a direct payment, or you can ask us to arrange services up to the value of the budget.

Support plans

If you are eligible for a personal budget the next step is to agree on a support plan. This describes the care and support you need and how you will use your personal budget to pay for it.

We will make sure your support plan meets your needs, is legal, affordable, makes the best use of your personal budget, and most importantly - helps you live a healthy and independent life.

Regular reviews

We stay in touch with you to ensure that your needs are met and that the services you receive are keeping you safe and well.

Once we’re sure that things are going well, we will have a review of the support plan at least once a year to make sure that you are managing your personal budget and to see whether your needs have changed

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If you disagree with our assessment

The assessment is voluntary and you can withdraw at any time, which means you will not receive a personal budget from us.

If you do not agree with the outcome of your assessment, you can request for the decision to be reconsidered. 

All initial enquiries should go through the allocated worker. If you do not have an allocated worker, please send an email the First Response Team, who will respond during office hours - email: firstresponseteam@haringey.gov.uk

If you have done this and are still unhappy you can make a complaint using the adult social care complaints form.

Confidentiality

The information given to us is confidential and we will only share it with those people who need to know about the situation. For example, if relatives or friends are helping to look after you, we will usually discuss the situation with them as well. We will always ask for your permission before sharing information.

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Our standards

What you can expect from us:

• We will always respect the dignity of those we look after. To find out what standards you can expect from us, read the Dignity in Care standards (PDF, 981KB).
• You will be given enough time and help to allow you to express what you need and want to achieve
• The views of carers will be considered
• You will be protected from abuse
• Cultural, ethnic, religious, sexual or other preferences will be fully taken into account including, for example, arrangements for an interpreter if you do not speak English or use British Sign Language
• Personal budget holders will be in control and able to exercise choice throughout.

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