Newcastle City Council has introduced a new way of providing adult social care to people in the city. This new way of working is called Self Directed Support.
Self Directed Support is about making sure your needs are met in a way that best suits you. It puts people who need social care services in control of their lives and the support they receive.
We’ll work with you to identify what needs you have, and if you are eligible for help from the council, we will give you an amount of money called a Personal Budget. Having a Personal Budget gives you the flexibility to buy the support and services that best suit you. You can use this budget in lots of different ways, provided it meets your needs, is legal and is safe. You can have your Personal Budget as a cash payment, which we call a Direct Payment. You can still ask the council to do arrange services for you if you wish.
We have written this information to explain what Self Directed Support is and how to get started with planning your support.
There are different stages in Self Directed Support. Each of these stages is explained below. We have produced other information which provides more detail on some of the stages. Ask your social worker about these or use the links below.
Assessment
Following a referral, we will check if you are eligible to receive social care services according to Department of Health guidelines.
If you are, we will complete a Support Needs Questionnaire with you. This will help us to understand your needs and work out how much money you might receive from us to spend on your support.
We will also ask you to have a financial assessment. This will look at how much money you have and certain bills to work out if you need to make a contribution towards the cost of your care.
We will then tell you how much your Personal Budget might be. If you need to make a contribution to this budget, we’ll tell you about that as well.
Support Planning
Once you know how much your Personal Budget might be, you will need to make a Support Plan. This is a document that describes the support you think you need to meet your social care needs.
Your support plan should also explain how you will manage your money to do this.
Your social worker can help you to complete the plan if you want them to. Once it’s finished, they will check if for you. It will then need to be approved by the council. If everyone is happy with it, we will confirm this in writing and make arrangements for the money identified in the plan to be made available.
If your Personal Budget does not meet your eligible needs, the Care Management Resource Panel can look into this.
When you are planning your support, you will need to decide how you want your Personal Budget to be managed. There are different ways you can do this:
Review
Your support plan will be reviewed after 12 weeks and then at least once a year to make sure it continues to meet your needs.
Appeals
If you believe that you have not been allocated enough money for your support, or if you want to challenge why your support plan has not been agreed, you can ask for a review of your assessment or support plan. You can do this in writing, or simply ask your social worker or care coordinator. We will look into your appeal and try to reach an agreement with you.
Comments or complaints
If you are still unhappy about a decision, you may wish to make a formal complaint. To get help with this, please contact our Complaints Service, who can advise you on how to make sure your complaint is investigated and resolved. You can contact the service by phone on 0191 211 6340, or email adultservices.customer@newcastle.gov.uk, or write to:
Customer Relations Team, Adult and Culture Services, Newcastle City Council, Civic Centre, Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 8PA
We aim to send you an acknowledgement letter or email within two working days of receipt and we will tell you the name of the officer who is dealing with your complaint.
Keeping yourself safe and well
Adult abuse is when a person is treated in a way that makes them feel frightened or unhappy, harms, hurts or exploits them - particularly by someone they know or should be able to trust. Abuse is often a crime. If you think you or someone you know may be suffering from abuse, explain your concerns and that action needs to be taken. Never feel embarrassed about highlighting abuse. Talk to somebody you trust such as your doctor, a relative, friend or carer, or use one of the contacts below.
In an emergency dial 999
Newcastle City Council Adult Social Care Direct Team - 0191 278 8377
In an emergency after 6pm call 0191 232 8520 and ask for the Emergency Duty Team
You can find all this information and much more on www.mycarenewcastle.org.uk
Page last updated: 17 April, 2012
