The Self Directed Support Guide for Adults and Older People

Step 1 - Make a Referral

Anyone can contact us to make a referral - you can do this yourself or, if you prefer, a relative, carer, friend, GP or other professional can make contact on your behalf.

To make a referral contact Adult Social Care Enquiry Team (ASCET)

Step 2 - Initial assessment and eligibility check

At the initial point of contact we will begin your assessment - this is where we start to gather information about you. This will help us to understand what your needs are and establish your eligibility for support.

We will assess a person's needs to decide if we can offer care and support. We must give priority to those who are at most risk.

We use eligibility criteria. These let us work out how serious the risk is of you losing your independence if your needs are not met. 

Anyone in West Lothian whose needs and outcomes are assessed as critical or substantial will be eligible for access to paid services and support.

You can find out more information on our eligibility criteria process and our policies on our Assessment, Eligibility and Financial Contributions page

If you do not meet the eligibility criteria for our services, our staff will talk to you about other types of support and community help available.

You can also find more information on a variety of community supports available through our Community Resource Directory

Step 3 - All About Me : Outcome Focussed Assessment

Everyone who gets support from the Council needs to have an assessment. The assessment will be carried out by our Social Work Service and it will looks at your needs. Assessments are also carried out for carers who have been identified as requiring more support. 

What is an Outcome Focussed Assessment?

This assessment involves having an outcome focussed conversation about the things that are important to you, while discussing the difficulties you might be facing in everyday life. This assessment will bring together knowledge about your life along with knowledge of others who know you well or those who already support you. The purpose of the assessment is to learn more about the things in your life that matter most to you, and the ways that support  and services can enable you to achieve those things.

Our conversations, assessment and support planning aim to identify what care and support you might need, to ensure you are:

• Healthy and have a good quality of life
• Safe
• Independent (as much as possible)
• Free from stigma and discrimination
• Informed and in control of your support
• Able to realise your potential
• Socially and geographically connected

What will happen during your assessment?

Your support practitioner will work with you to complete your assessment. People from other services may be involved such as a Community Nurse or Occupational Therapist if they are currently in contact with you. If your information is to be shared between professionals, your support practitioner will ask for your signed consent at this  stage if this has not already been obtained.

Your support practitioner will ask you about any support you get from carers. With your permission, they will ask your carers for their knowledge, ideas, and opinions. The aim of the assessment is to better understand what matters to you in your life, and what support can enable you to achieve the things which matter to you, otherwise known as outcomes. Areas which might be discussed include what works well for you, any difficulties you are facing, and supports that currently enable your daily living.

Your assessment will consider risks you might face in everyday life, and the risks to your ability to achieve the things that matter to you. This includes any physical, psychological, and social risks you may encounter.

Are you eligible for support?

From your assessment we can work out what support you may be eligible for. We use guidelines to decide who is eligible for help to ensure that everyone has fair and equal access to services and supports. 

Step 4 - Calculating your budget and contributions

How we calculate your 'budget'.

We use a Resource Allocation System (RAS) to identify the budget requirements for each individual based on their needs.

The system uses the information we gather from your outcome focused assessment and puts this into seven personal needs questions. Based on the answers it helps us to understand where you are going to need support and what the cost of that support will be. 

1. Meeting Personal Needs and Looking after Myself - Health
2. Meeting Personal Needs and Looking after Myself - Personal Care
3. Staying Safe and Managing Complex Needs and Tasks
4. Running and Maintaining the Household I am living in
5. Making Decisions and Organising My Life
6. Social Relationships and Community Activities
7. Employability/ Volunteering/ Personal Development

The Council will inform you of the budget that is available for you to spend on meeting your agreed outcomes. Your budget will usually be administered 4-weekly, in advance, but this may differ depending on your agreed outcomes. Individual budgets will vary from person to person due to individuals having different needs, circumstances, and preferred outcomes. Your individual budget will be subject to review on an annual basis.

You can find more information on 'personal budgets' in our article on Self-Directed Support: Personal Budgets

Your Contributions

Where a person is assessed as eligible for care they may be required to pay something towards that care. Anyone who receives a "chargeable service" will be assessed to determine how much they can afford to pay towards the cost of those services they receive. A non-residential financial assessment will be completed, where applicable, to find out if you should make a financial contribution towards your support. Your practitioner will help you to complete the relevant form. Paying your contribution, if applicable, is your responsibility and you must pay this to to ensure that your goods, activities, and services can be paid and to maintain your contingency amount.

The Contributions Policy explains the financial assessment process.

Step 5 - Planning your Support 

You have the right to a plan for how you will be supported. During the planning process, you will choose how you want your support to be provided. You can decide if you need to do this, for example from a carer, a friend or someone from a support organisation.

Your practitioner should talk to you about the four options available to you Self Directed Support: The 4 Options

A Support Plan will then be completed by you and your practitioner which will focus on what outcomes you want to achieve and how you hope to achieve them. As part of the support planning process, your practitioner will advise you how much your individual budget is, as it should be very clear as to what monies are available and how these can be spent to meet your agreed outcomes. 

Step 6 - Putting your Support in Place

You and your social worker will follow the plan, and ensure that the support you need is put in place for you.

Everyone wants to have some level of control and everyone is different. So, in self-directed support, the way people organise their support can be as individual as they are. You can take on the job of organising your support yourself or get someone else to organise it all or do something in between.

The options you can choose from are:

• Do it yourself.
• Use a support provider.
• Use a broker.
• Use an agency.
• Use the local authority.
• Use paid and unpaid support.

You can mix and match these options. There is no formula. It's a question of what suits you. 

Step 7 - Four Week Review

After the first 4 weeks of these option arrangements being in place, a review will be facilitated by your practitioner. The purpose of the four week review is to check on your support plan and to give you the opportunity to talk about what is working, what is not working so well and what you may want done differently. You can discuss with your practitioner and anyone else who you have invited to the review what changes to your support plan or to the delivery of it by your chosen provider.

The self-directed support option you have chosen can be changed at any time if you think that another option arrangements will be more effective in meeting your needs and delivering your outcomes. You should speak to your practitioner about the available alternatives.

Step 8 - Annual Support Review

You and your practitioner will review your support plan annually to ensure that your outcomes are being met and what changes to your arrangements, if any, need to be agreed. In addition, your financial assessment will also be reviewed annually to determine any changes to the client contribution.

A review is not as formal as a full assessment, but it will take into account the original assessment that you had and any other changes to your circumstances.

If you are caring for someone and their support is being reviewed, this will also look at whether the care you are providing has changed or is going to change in the future so that the support they get can complement this.

The self-directed support option you have chosen can be changed at any time if you think that another option arrangements will be more effective in meeting your needs and delivering your outcomes. You should speak to your practitioner about the available alternatives.