Is your social care good enough?
Help us trial our new service
Social care is the support older people, disabled people and carers receive in their own home, a care home or in the community to live as independently as possible. We will all need social care at some point either for ourselves or for a loved one. But every day in England millions of us go without the social care we need to maintain our wellbeing.
At Access Social Care we support individuals and communities across England to increase knowledge of the law and rights, providing free legal advice and information for people with health and social care needs. Our specialist community care lawyers ensure fair access to justice when things go wrong, and we help individuals to use the law to secure better health and social care outcomes.
“When my Dad passed away, my Mum couldn't manage caring for my disabled brother on her own - it takes 2 people to lift my brother, and my Mum isn't getting any younger. I took a 6 month sabbatical from work to help whilst we tried to get my brother a place in a care home. My brother has complex needs, so I thought it would be easy but after 6 months, we were no closer to getting our local authority to help. Access Social Care stepped in and within a month my brother was placed in a brilliant home just round the corner from my Mum. Without help from Access Social Care I would have had to have given up work. I am so grateful for their expert support.”
Our new Care and Support Audit Service
Through our work at Access Social Care, we know:
Individuals who draw on social care even with the support of their family member as deputy, attorney or family advocate, can struggle to navigate complex community care legal systems and too often are treated unlawfully
The national shortage of specialist Community Care lawyers means that people have nowhere to turn for advice when they are denied their social care rights
With this in mind we are trialling a new care and support audit service, to help people who draw on social care understand their rights and to advise them whether, in our view, the public authorities have completed their care act assessments and reviews in line with the law. .
What the service will do
Through our Care and Support Audit Service we will conduct a review of your individual assessment and care and support plan so that we can discuss with you whether it has been carried out comprehensively and lawfully.
Key service features are:
Obtaining Key Information: We will discuss with you what contact you have had with adult social care services, what assessments, if any, have taken place and what support has been put in place.
Paper audit: we will review an individual’s assessment and care and support plan documentation, where available and with the necessary consents, to advice on its sufficiency.
Further Advice and support: we will discuss any concerns you have and advise on the best next steps to get any further support you need and are entitled to under the Care Act.
Next steps
We want to work with people who draw on social care and their families to trial this new service. We will conduct a thorough review and provide expert advice on how to ensure your legal rights to person centred care and support are met We are offering 5 free audits as part of the trial.
Be part of the trial
If you are interested in participating in this Care and Support Audit Service trial, please contact Laura Peters, Access Social Care’s Legal Services Director at laura.peters@accesscharity.org.uk.
We look forward to hearing from you!
