Social services
This section will tell you about the help you can get from Social Services. Click on the links below to take you to the information you need:
What is Self Directed Support? 
Self Directed Support (SDS) is about radically changing the social care system so that people who use it get much more control over what they get. It means people really being in charge of designing the support that they get.
It is all about people assessing their own needs, deciding how best those needs can be met, and then purchasing & managing (with help if required) their preferred means of support.
The move towards Self Directed Support is underpinned by Putting People First which sets out a clear direction for social care support in England and builds on the Government White Paper ‘Our Health, Our Care, Our Say’.
These government papers outline a vision which is aiming to ensure that all individuals, irrespective of illness or disability are supported to:
- live independently,
- stay healthy & recover quickly from illness,
- exercise maximum control over their own life and where appropriate the lives of their family members,
- sustain a family unit which avoids children being required to take on inappropriate caring roles,
- participate as active and equal citizens
- have the best possible quality of life
- Retain maximum dignity and respect.
Richmond Council is committed to these principles. This new system lays out a pathway from a person's first contact with Adult and Community services through to achieving the person's desired outcomes. Each step requires judgments, decisions and choices that are within the person's control as far as possible and as far as they wish them to be.
This SDS guide will tell you all you need to know SDS Information Booklet.pdf
Below we have outlined the steps you need to take in order to receive support from Social Services.
Getting Support from Social Services
If you need extra support to live at home, you may be able to get support from Richmond Social Services. Social care is means tested so not everyone will get financial support from social services, but everyone can get advice and information.
Contact Richmond Direct on 020 8891 7971. They will ask you a series of questions about the support that you need. They can give you information and advice about accessing social care.
Once they have all the information that they need they will refer your case to a local team who will get in contact with you to arrange a face to face assessment.
A social worker will come to your home and will complete an assisted self assessment Questionnaire with you. They will ask you questions about the difficulties you are living with and the impact your disability or impairment is having on your life. It is a good idea to have a close friend or relative there when the assessment is being completed because they may have observed the difficulties that you are experiencing.
The social worker will then go away and will calculate, based on your answers to the assessment questions how much money you will be offered to fund your support needs. This is a suggested amount.
You will then need to write a plan to show how you are going to get your needs met. You can write this plan yourself, the council can help you with this or we can help you (click here to find out more about the support that we offer). The plan explains: how you will spend your money in a way that makes sense to you, how it helps you to overcome the difficulties you face and also helps you to achieve your goals in the way that you want. (For more information on Supporting Planning click here)
Once your plan is complete it need to be submitted to Social Services to be agreed.
Once the plan is agreed then you can start to get the support that you need. If you have chosen to take control of your support and are receiving a Direct Payment, then your payments. You can start to purchase the services that you require, engage with an agency of your choice or recruit your own staff.
Put plan into action - Live your life!
You will need to tell the council about how you have met your needs and Outcomes. They will meet with you to discuss what has worked and what has not worked and what you are planning to do next. This meeting usually takes place once per year.
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