Needs Assessment

What is an Assessment?

You are entitled to an assessment if you have difficulties in living independently because of:

• difficulties related to illness or if you are are over 65 years
• learning disabilities
• mental health problems
• physical disabilities
• sensory impairment
• chronic or severe health problems including HIV/AIDS

Before we can arrange services for you, you will need to have an assessment. An assessment is carried out to identify your needs and to decide whether you qualify for a service under the guidelines.

A professional, such as a social worker or occupational therapist, will come to see you to carry out your assessment. If you wish, you can have someone you know, such as a relative or friend, to help you with the assessment or to speak for you. You may also want to involve someone who looks after you (your carer). The assessment can also include other people, such as your GP.

We will need to find out and discuss with you the areas where you are having difficulties. We want to find out:

• how you are managing
• what you can and cannot do
• what help you feel you need
• what you like and dislike

We may need to ask other agencies or people who know you, such as your GP, to help with your assessment or to provide information if it is relevant. We will ask your permission to contact these people.

If you have a carer, we will listen carefully to their views during your assessment, and will take their needs into account. We will ask your carer whether they want a separate assessment of their needs.

If you qualify for services under the eligibility criteria, the assessment will be the basis for planning the services you could receive.

What Does the Assessment Tell Us?

The assessment will help us to find out whether you need help in any of the following areas:

• personal care
• getting about in your home
• eating and drinking
• personal safety
• communication
• household tasks
• transport
• support for your carer

The assessment will summarise your level of need and the extent to which you are at risk. We use our eligibility criteria to decide whether you qualify for a service. The assessment will also tell us how urgently we need to provide services and whether we should refer you to other agencies.

We want to help as many people as possible, but we have to make sure that our services go to those who need them most. Whether you qualify for a particular service will depend on your level of need.

In some circumstances we may be able to offer direct payments for you to buy services yourself to help maintain your independence at home. We can also help to find a suitable residential home or nursing home if after an assessment we both agree you can no longer manage at home.

We may charge you for some of the services we provide. There is no charge for an assessment.

Requesting an Assessment

If you think you are in need of a Community Care Service you should phone our Information and Access Team:

Tel: 020 7527 2299
Minicom: 020 7527 6475

Online Self Assessment - You can now use the Internet to start the assessment process. This is called self-assessment. Self-assessment gives people the choice to assess their own needs or carry out an assessment on behalf of someone else. The completed form is automatically and securely sent to our Information and Access Team.

To complete an online self assessment form click on the 'Self assessment online' link in the right hand menu on this page.

Eligibility Criteria

In order to ensure that assessments are carried out as fairly as possible with everyone treated on an equal basis, assessments are guided by eligibility criteria which have been introduced by the Government for all local authorities to apply in accordance with the ‘Fair Access to Care Service Guidance’ (April 2003).

Fair Access to Care

Under this system the nationally agreed eligibility criteria are used to assess the level of risk to a person’s independence if help were not available to support them. There are criteria to cover all important aspects of a person’s life. They include the following.

• all aspects of health, both mental and physical, plus any concerns about behaviour which would threaten the safety of the individual or those caring for them.
• the ability an individual has to control their situation and how far they can make choices about their life.
• the ability to manage their personal care needs, domestic activities and look after their own dependants
• the possibility of involvement in leisure and social activities, paid and unpaid work, learning and volunteering

The eligibility criteria are divided into four categories or bands: critical, substantial, moderate and low

The person undertaking the assessment will decide which band an individual’s needs would fall based on the seriousness of the risk if the individual were not helped. 

Although all local authorities must apply this system to assessments, they can decide for themselves which bands of risk they will meet (bearing in mind what resources they have available to provide help). Islington Council will be able to meet your needs if they fall within the moderate (if preventing deterioration), critical or substantial risk bands. 

If your needs are assessed as falling within low risk band you will not be eligible for services but you will still be offered information and advice about other ways in which your needs can be met. Islington has a variety of voluntary organisations which are able to offer support to vulnerable people in the borough. 

For more detail about banding and eligibility, please refer to the guidance document, 'When Can We Help' , at the end of this page

Care Plans and Reviews

Where we provide services for you we will give you a care plan which will set out your needs, the services we will organise to meet these needs, who will provide the help and when they will visit you. We will review your situation at least once a year to ensure that your services are being carried out satisfactorily and that they continue to meet your needs as set out in the care plan. If we find that your needs have changed, services can be altered to meet these changes. This could mean that if your situation has improved, services would be reduced or withdrawn.