Newcastle City Council

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The law says that the council must assess the needs of people who we think might need social care services provided to them.

Community Care Assessment

Everyone who might need social care services has a Community Care Assessment. This is carried out by a council assessor (a social worker or social care assessment officer), in consultation with you, your family or friends if appropriate and health professionals. 

Sometimes you might want to say things about your care but can’t do this yourself. You can ask an advocate to help you. An advocate is independent and does not work for social services.

Needs assessment.pdf (294.9kb)

The assessment is used to answer three questions:

1. Do you have needs that result from your disabilities or health problems?      
2. Are your needs of such a level that you are eligible for social care services from the council?
3. If you are eligible, what will we do to meet those needs?

For most people with eligible needs, the way we will meet them is with a Personal Budget. This means completing a Support Needs Questionnaire.

Click here for more information about Personal Budgets.

Family and friends who are giving you planned care for 20 hours or more a week can ask for an assessment of their own needs. This is called a carers assessment.

The Support Needs Questionnaire

The Support Needs Questionnaire is a form that we use to work out how much help you need with:

• Support with personal care
• Support with being part of your community
• Looking after yourself and staying safe in your community
• Dealing with risky behaviour

We will work with you and the people who are important in your life to look at how much help you need in each of the four areas. A social worker will complete and agree the form with you and anyone else you want to involve.

We also ask about how much help you get from people around you so that we make sure that we provide the right amount of support for you and anyone who cares for you.

We will also ask you to have a financial assessment to work out whether you should pay a contribution to the cost of your social care services. You can find out more about this by clicking here.

We use this information to work out an amount of money which we think is enough to meet your needs. This amount of money is called an indicative amount and you can use it to decide what support or services you want to help meet your needs. When your Support Plan is agreed, you’ll get your final Personal Budget.

Page last updated: 16 August, 2011