Adult social care assessment

1 Assessment for people with social care needs

Self-assessment

Self-assessment is designed to help you think about your personal circumstances - what is working well and what needs to change. It can be useful to complete a form before contacting us to help you think about your situation.

If you do not want to contact us for an assessment of your needs, you can use the self-assessment to help you plan and buy your own support. A friend, relative or carer can complete the form on your behalf.

You can:

• complete an online self-assessment form
• download and complete a printable form from West Sussex Connect to Support
• ask us to send you a paper copy of the form. Please call 01243 642121 or email: socialcare@westsussex.gov.uk. 

You do not have to complete a self-assessment form before contacting us. It is simply there to help you think about your situation.

Whichever of the above options you choose you can either:

• complete and save the form to use when you contact us to request social care support
• submit or post it to us to provide background information about your personal circumstances.

One of our staff will contact you after you have submitted the form.

Assessment

You have the right to ask us to assess your needs if you think you need social care support. An assessment is free of charge.

When you contact us, we will talk with you about your circumstances or those of the person you are concerned about. If you have already completed a self-assessment form, we will look at what you have told us as part of your assessment.

We will:

• work with you to identify the goals or outcomes that you want to achieve
• look at your strengths and capabilities
• identify support that may be available in your local community that could help you remain as independent as possible and prevent or delay the development of your needs
• focus on the issues that are important in your circumstances.

2 Assessment for family and friend carers

Self-assessment

The self-assessment for family and friend carers is designed to help people who provide unpaid care to a relative, friend or neighbour to think about their personal circumstances - what is working well in your life and what needs to change. It can be useful to complete a self-assessment form if you are thinking about contacting us to ask about support.

You can:

• complete an online carer's self-assessment form
• download and complete a printable form via West Sussex Connect to Support
• ask us to send you a paper copy of the form. Please call 01243 642121 or email: socialcare@westsussex.gov.uk.

Carers Support West Sussex will receive completed online and paper copies of self-assessments as they carry out the majority of carers' assessments on our behalf. A member of their staff will contact you after you have submitted your form.

You do not have to complete a self-assessment form before contacting us, it is simply there to help you think about your situation.

Assessment

An assessment is free of charge. If you provide unpaid care to a relative, friend or neighbour you are entitled to an assessment of your needs even if the person you care for has not been assessed or is not receiving services from us.

If you have completed a carer’s self-assessment, what you have told us will be included in your assessment. Carers Support West Sussex carry out most of the carer’s assessments on our behalf.

3 Additional information

You can find out more about the assessment process in the booklet below:

• Your life, your choice: Getting adult social care support in West Sussex (PDF, 479KB)