Needs Assessments

A needs assessment (also known as ‘assessment of needs’) is a way for the local authority to determine what a person’s care and support needs are. Needs assessments are free and should tell a local authority and the person whether the needs they have are eligible for support from health and social care services.

Needs assessments involve going through all aspects of daily life including personal care and recognising which areas the person finds difficult to manage on their own. It should also identify where the person may require support from carers, equipment, or technology.  

Your needs assessment will likely be led by a social worker. The social worker should give you the opportunity to invite people who you wish to support you such as a friend or relative. Sometimes advocates are involved in needs assessments where the person being assessed has difficulty in understanding the relevant information or making their views and wishes known. If you feel you should have an advocate, you can ask your social worker to refer to the local advocacy service for a ‘Care Act advocate’. 

A person is deemed to have eligible needs if they have a physical or mental impairment or illness which is likely to prevent them from meeting two or more specified outcomes as an adult. To have ‘eligible’ care and support needs, there would need to be significant impact on the person’s wellbeing to them not being able to achieve these outcomes. 

These outcomes are: 
1.    Managing and maintaining nutrition;
2.    Maintaining personal hygiene;
3.    Managing toilet needs;
4.    Being appropriately clothed;
5.    Being able to make use of the home safely;
6.    Maintaining a habitable home environment;
7.    Developing and maintaining family or other personal relationships;
8.    Accessing and engaging in work, training, education or volunteering;
9.    Making use of necessary facilities or services in the local community, including public transport, and recreational facilities or services;
10.    Carrying out any caring responsibilities an adult has for a child.

Yes, if it appears that the person may have care and support needs, the local authority has a duty to assess under the Care Act 2014. The assessment is free, and it doesn’t matter what the person’s financial status is. An assessment can be refused and the local authority do not have to complete one unless they feel it is in the person’s best interest, and the person is found to lack mental capacity in relation to their care and support needs and being assessed. Another exception where they may have to assess despite refusal, is where the person is experiencing or at risk of abuse or neglect. 

If you disagree with a local authority decision not to assess or with how the assessment process has been carried out, there are ways you can challenge this. Each local authority should have their own complaints process which they should support you to follow. Independent complaints advocacy should also be available to you, or you may choose to seek legal advice. We can support you to follow the complaints processes or challenge the local authority through the Court of Protection or judicial review. 

If a person is assessed as having eligible needs, and ordinarily resident in the local authorities’ area, with finances below the limit, the local authority has a duty to meet a person’s needs unless these needs are being met by a carer. The local authority has a duty to meet needs if the person lacks capacity to arrange and there is no one else authorised to on their behalf.

Where the local authority has assessed eligible needs, they must prepare a care and support plan which tells the adult which needs they will meet and helps the adult to decide how they would like their needs to be met. An independent personal budget must be created, and the adult will be informed of which needs could be met by a direct payment (i.e. for the person or their authorised representative to arrange using a payment given by the local authority). The local authority should support the person to discuss which options for care are available to them and what their views and wishes are.

Whether a person must pay for their needs to be met is dependent on their individual financial information. A financial assessment will be carried out by the local authority to calculate how much the person needs to contribute towards the cost of their care. In England, there is a threshold for finances whereby anyone with savings valued at below £14,250 does not have to make any contribution to their care costs. Anyone with savings above £14,250 but below £23,250 will likely have to contribute to their care costs. Anyone with more than £23,500 savings is classed as a ‘self-funder’ and liable for all of their care costs.

Some individuals are eligible for CHC (Continuing Healthcare) NHS funding which is funding available to individuals with a primary health need which is of a complex, severe and/or unpredictable nature. There is an assessment process for this funding which is explained HERE. 

A written copy of the needs assessment must be given to the person, any carer they have (if they consent to this) and anyone else whom they request it to be given to. A needs assessment should lead to a care and support plan being completed if the adult is found to have eligible needs. The local authority must tell the adult which needs it will meet and any that can be met by direct payments. If there are no eligible needs, or the local authority are not going to meet needs, the local authority must give written reasons for this. Information and advice on what to do to reduce needs and prevent the development of needs must also be given.