Social care and early help - Local Offer
Early Help Services
Early Help is the principle of providing the right support at the right time to tackle issues that emerge for children, young people and their families.
It is about providing effective help as soon as a problem or difficulty emerges. It can support families to maintain positive change throughout a child, a young person, or family’s life.
Providing help at an early stage is an effective way to promote the welfare of children. It can take place at any point in a child’s life - from the foundation years to young adulthood.
The Early Help Assessment (EHA) is a simple way to identify the needs of children and families. It also outlines a plan to meet those needs. The EHA aims to provide a coordinated response so that nobody misses out on the support they need. It is used by all agencies in Northamptonshire who deliver early help.
The EHA can be used to support children and young people aged 0 to 19 years. It can include unborn babies and can also be used (with consent) for people with learning disabilities up to the age of 24.
See:
Social care support for disabled children and young people
Education, health, and leisure facilities are required by law to make reasonable adjustments to meet the needs of children and young people with disabilities.
However, some children with SEND and their families will need extra support from the Northamptonshire Children’s Trust. These social care services need a formal social care assessment.
Support that does not need a social care referral
Disabled Children’s Register
Families can join the Disabled Children’s Register, previously known as SNIX.
Registration helps the council plan services for children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). Families who register their child will receive termly newsletters about SEND services, resources, training, early years, groups, clubs, and activities.
Northamptonshire Carers
Northamptonshire Carers is a countywide charity based in Wellingborough. It offers support and advice for parents and carers of children with disabilities. It also provides a support network for young people who care for a sibling or parent. Families can contact the charity directly.
Northamptonshire Carers carries out Carers’ Assessments. It also supports families with referrals to NCT’s Children with Disabilities Team. These are made via the Multi-Agency Safeguarding Hub (MASH).
Short Breaks
Families can access various non-residential short breaks. Activities can range from universal football clubs to targeted music groups.
Universal provisions (such as clubs, sports groups, and leisure facilities) don’t need referrals. However, some providers might recommend an assessment or a professional referral.
The local authority commissions external providers to offer targeted youth groups and holiday clubs. There are also numerous volunteer-run groups for children with disabilities.
Residential short breaks (such as specialist respite care from the NHS) may need a social care referral.
Families can apply for Personal Independent Payments (for over 18s) or Disability Living Allowance (for children). This money can be used to fund short breaks.
Details of short breaks can be found in the Local Offer directory.
Specialist support that needs a social care referral
The support services listed below for disabled children and young people are only available with a social care referral. A successful referral does not guarantee an individual will receive one of these specific services. However, the referral will ensure that the child receives the most appropriate provision that best meets their needs.
Specialist services (known as Tier Four) are available to individuals with additional needs beyond targeted services. Specialist services include:
- home support
- domiciliary care
- direct payments
- overnights
- short break respite care
- sessional support
These services are listed in the Local Offer directory. They usually need an assessment with NCT’s Disabled Children's Team.
Children With Disabilities Team
The Children with Disabilities Team (CWD) is part of the Northamptonshire Children’s Trust (NCT). It’s a statutory service for the most vulnerable disabled children and young people in the county.
The CWD Team ensures those with substantial and long-term disabilities and complex health needs are given every opportunity to meet their full potential. It also aims to ensure they enjoy the best possible quality of life and are safeguarded from harm.
The Children with Disabilities Team provides a social model of disability that challenges and seeks to remove the barriers to children and young people with disabilities and thus enable all children and young people to have access and opportunities to reach their full potential.
Many children and young people will not meet the eligibility criteria for the Children with Disabilities Team. They may benefit from different Tier Four services or lower-tier services instead.
A referral to the Children with Disabilities Team is made through the Multi-Agency Safeguarding Hub (MASH). The individual will be assessed as a Child in Need (as per the Chronically Sick and Disabled Persons Act 1970).
Adult Social Care
Adult social services are provided under the Care Act 2014. The Act places a legal duty on the local authority to carry out an assessment when a child is likely to have a need for care and support when they are 18.
In West Northamptonshire, adult social services will usually start this process in year 11, but there is no set age when young people reach the point of needing an assessment. Every young person and their family are different, and assessment should take place when it is the most appropriate time for them.
If the child is already supported by Northamptonshire Children’s Trust, their allocated worker will make the referral through an internal referral process.
There are adult Transition Workers who link in with SEND post 16 education provisions, who provide advice and guidance to parents, young people and teachers about how to make a referral if they are not already known to children’s services.
They also attend EHC reviews for young people where it has been identified as a potential benefit for them and their families, from year 11 upwards to provide advice and guidance.
Children’s services must continue to be provided until adult provision has started, or a decision is made that the young person’s needs do not meet the eligibility criteria for adult care and support.
Where young people aged 18 or over continue to have EHC plans under the Children and Families Act 2014, and they make the move to adult care and support, the care and support aspects of the EHC plan will be provided under the Care Act. The statutory care and support plan must form the basis of the ‘care’ element of the EHC plan.
Under the Care Act 2014, all young people going through the transition process are entitled to independent advocacy.
Social Care Service support for people over the age of 18 is arranged by Adult Social Care and comes under The Care Act 2014.
The criteria for support is as follows:
- the person’s needs arise from, or are related to, a physical or mental impairment or illness
- as a result of the person’s needs, they are unable to achieve two or more of the specified outcomes below
- as a consequence of being unable to achieve these outcomes there is, or there is likely to be, a significant impact on the adult’s wellbeing
Specified Outcomes can include:
- managing and maintaining nutrition
- maintaining personal hygiene
- managing toilet needs
- being appropriately clothed
- being able to make use of the home safely
- maintaining a habitable home environment
- developing and maintaining family or other personal relationships
- accessing and engaging in work, training, education or volunteering
- making use of necessary facilities or services in the local community including public transport and recreational facilities or services
- carrying out any caring responsibilities the adult has for a child
What Adult Social Care does
When your young person is referred for support, Adult Social Care will have a series of conversations with them and with you. This will form the assessment to establish what needs your young person has.
Adult Social Care will use a strengths-based approach. This means that your young person is placed at the heart of the conversations with a focus on what they can do, as well as what they need help with.
The approach focuses on what is important to the young person. The adult social care worker will want to find out what their hopes are for the future, what they like doing, what they are good at, as well as the things they are finding difficult to manage.
The adult social care worker will discuss ways to help your young person stay as independent as possible, and the conversations they have with your young person and with yourself will identify what eligible needs your young person has under the Care Act 2014.
How support is agreed
The starting point is always to look at what your young person wants to achieve, what they need help with, and whether there is anything in the local community that they could be connected to. Equipment such as assistive technology could help.
If it is identified that your young person needs a funded package of support to meet their identified social care needs, a support plan will be developed. It will be developed in partnership with the young person, yourself and relevant others. A personal budget will also be allocated.
The support plan identifies how your young person’s needs will be met, and what the expected outcomes from the support will be. In other words, what targets or goals will the support help them to achieve.
Once the support plan has been authorised, the adult social care brokerage service will help to find the agreed support package. Your young person would also have the option of a direct payment to employ a personal assistant if it is decided that this is how best to meet their needs and meet the outcomes and goals identified.
If your young person doesn’t have the capacity to make specific decisions about their care and support needs, the local authority will consider what assessments may be required (under the Mental Capacity Act 2005) to enable decisions to be made for and on the young person’s behalf.
Personal Budgets and Direct Payments – Adult Social Care
A personal budget is an amount of Council funds that is judged to be sufficient to meet the assessed unmet needs of a person who is eligible for care and support. Personal budgets can be paid in the form of a “Direct Payment” which enable people to have some degree of choice, control and flexibility over the services they receive.
Direct Payments
If your young person is eligible for support from Adult Social Care, following their Care Act Assessment, they may choose to have a “Direct Payment”. This which puts them, or someone they trust, in control of the care and support they receive.
This means they can:
- consider what personal goals they have
- find care and support services that will help them meet those goals
- spend their Direct Payment on the care and support services that they feel will best meet their needs
- enjoy the flexibility of being able to access the care and support services whenever and wherever is best for them
Personal Contributions
All people over the age of 18 years, who are in receipt of a funded package of support from Adult Social Care, will need to complete a financial assessment. This enables the Council to calculate their personal contribution (if any) towards the cost of the care and support package. The form is online and can be accessed at BetterCare West Northamptonshire by selecting Applications and Assessments.
The Financial Assessment Team undertake a welfare benefit check on each financial assessment that is completed. This ensures that your young person is receiving all the benefits they are entitled to. Further information can be provided by the allocated Adult Social Care worker.
Support for you as a Carer
The Care Act 2014 defines a carer as:
‘a person who provides or intends to provide care for another adult. It is either a relative or friend who assists
Carers often care for loved ones whilst trying to maintain an education or full-time job. Northamptonshire Carers support unpaid carers of all ages – from young children, through to teenagers, adults and the elderly.
West Northamptonshire Council has a statutory responsibility for all carers, set out in the Care Act 2014.
Every person who considers themselves to be a carer has the right to a Carer Assessment. West Northamptonshire Council commission Northamptonshire Carers to deliver carer services on their behalf.
A referral can be made through Northamptonshire Carers website for a Young Carer 5 – 17 years old, and an Adult Carer ages 18 years and over.
Wellbeing Service
This service is tailored to support anyone eligible over the age of 18 who may be showing signs of reduced independence. It aims to prevent decline, and to support and manage health and wellbeing needs.
With up to 12 weeks of one-to-one support, the team of dedicated Wellbeing Advisors are committed to providing you with the knowledge and resources needed to make your wellbeing a priority.
Northamptonshire Youth Offending Service (NYOS)
Northamptonshire Youth Offending Service (NYOS) is a multi-agency partnership between:
- Northamptonshire Children’s Trust
- North and West Northamptonshire Councils
- Northamptonshire Police
- Northampton Youth Bench (Magistrates)
- Northamptonshire Health Foundation Trust
- Public Health Northamptonshire (North and West)
- Northamptonshire Probation
- Partnerships with voluntary sector agencies
NYOS aims to reduce offending and re-offending by children and young people.
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Last updated 10 September 2024