Is Calderdale in a parallel universe? My direct experience is that adult social care is at absolute breaking point; long waiting for assessments, even longer waiting for services to be provided, people stuck on hospital beds, Care Act duties being avoided whenever possible, the list goes on….

Meanwhile, Calderdale has money hanging around to offer a ‘who fancies some help?’ pop in shop.

I guess the proof of the pudding is in the tasting; so if I were to stroll into this shop today; A) will they be able to see me? b) Will they have the resources to meet needs?

If the answer is NO then this is just a PR exercise. If the answer is YES then how the heck has the austerity agenda avoided Calderdale?

Sorry, I don’t have access to CC inform.

So am I right to understand that by simply having the conversation and advising that an assessment is available the legal duty is met if someone declines assessment?

This sounds a lot like screening but using someone’s legal right to refuse as the legal basis for it. There would be incredibly high numbers of declined assessments in his case.

I would consider this carefully. in order to give the correct advice, the same questions would need to be asked to complete an assessment. Although I suppose if there are less eligibility decisions, there will be less of an obvious need to provide services and less reviews of eligible need.

I’ll be honest, the idea sounds radical but a bit dodgy…

It may not be a ‘new and innovative’, approach, however at least Calderdale has the forward thinking to keep moving and trying to reach people by having social workers in the heart of their community, accessible, amongst the people they serve, even if it is an old approach to practice.

In my experience this is what people in need want and welcome from social care.

Hi Liz

Thanks for your response, I may give you a call for an informal chat.

Hi
2 permanent posts have just gone on our website

It’s important to respond to people making contact for the first time in a legally literate way. So in any conversation with or about an adult who appears to have needs for care and support, or a carer who appears to have needs for support, the bottom line in terms of the legal rules is that there must be an assessment resulting in a determination of eligibility unless it is clear that the local authority has no duty to assess.

Legal literacy is about applying the legal rules in a professional and ethical way. In some cases the conversation could conclude that it is not relevant to proceed to determine eligibility, because the individual may prefer to pursue a course of action that does not require the involvement of the local authority. However, it is essential that at some point in the conversation that the individual is made aware of the local authority’s duty to assess and determine eligibility, and the individual has to be clear that this is something that they don’t require.

The legal provision being applied here is the individual’s right to refuse an assessment under section 11 of the Care Act. But in applying this to a professional conversation it must be remembered that this ‘right to refuse’ does not apply where an individual lacks the capacity to ‘refuse’, or alternatively where the individual is experiencing (or at risk of) abuse or neglect.

(If you have access to Community Care Inform you can read summaries of what the Act and statutory guidance say about first contact and the right to refuse in the A-Z of the Care Act 2014.)

Yes, I remember those days of ‘community social work’ well. Then all the community offices were closed and replaced with an Orwellian named central ‘Access’ team. Naturally, access was much harder for those living outside of the city centre, i.e. pretty much everyone.