1. Who this policy applies to

1.1 This policy will apply to you if you are not eligible for adult social care funding either because:

• your financial assets are greater than the upper capital limit or
• you do not wish to have a financial assessment.

1.2 This policy will apply if we are assessing you for the first time or if your needs and financial situation are being reviewed.

1.3 It also applies when we are putting services in place to meet an urgent need you may have prior to assessment.

1.4 This policy will need to be considered when individuals are moving from Children’s to Adult Social Care.

2. Why we need this policy

2.1 The Care Act 2014 places new powers and duties on us in relation to how we can and must arrange care for you if you have eligible social care needs. This policy is required to ensure a consistent approach is maintained across Devon.

3. What this policy will achieve

3.1 The aims and objectives of this policy are:

a) To ensure that if you have eligible needs, they are met;

b) To help you be as independent as possible;

c) To set out when and how we can and will arrange care and support for you if you are funding your own care;

d) To demonstrate that we are applying national legislation.

4. When we will arrange your care and support

4.1 If you have eligible needs but you are not financially eligible for social care funding, we have a duty to arrange care and support for you in the following circumstances:

a) When you require care and support in your home or the community (i.e. not in a residential or nursing care home) and have asked us to arrange it on your behalf

b) When you require care and support in a care home and are not able to arrange this yourself and no deputy or lasting power of attorney for property and financial affairs has been appointed to do so for you

We may also exercise our power to arrange your care in the following circumstances

c) If you approach us to arrange your care in a care home and, after a financial assessment, we conclude that it is likely you will be eligible for social care funding within a period of 12 months, then we may exercise our power to arrange your care home placement. The 12 month timeframe is a guiding principle and each individual will be assessed on case-by-case basis with the benefit to both the individual and DCC considered.

d) We may exercise our power to arrange the care and support you are paying for if it is interrupted due to the provider no longer being able to provide it.

5. How your care and support can be arranged

5.1 We will undertake a needs assessment to establish your eligible social care needs.

5.2 We will discuss with you the options for how your care and support could be arranged. The options are:

a) You may be able to and want to arrange your own care and support

b) You may want us to find the care and support so that you can arrange it.

c) You may like us to find and arrange your care and support

6. Promoting Independence

6.1 The Care Act states that we need to consider promoting independence and prevent or reduce the needs a person has at every opportunity.

6.2 The Act emphasises the importance of

“preventing or delaying the development of needs for care and support and the importance of reducing needs that already exist. At every interaction with a person, a local authority should consider whether or how the person’s needs could be reduced or other needs could be delayed from arising.”

(Care and Support Statutory Guidance to the Care Act. 1.14.(c) )

6.3 Devon County Councils Promoting Independence Policy will always be applied and the potential for the following support should always be considered as ways of promoting independence:

• Providing information on healthy life choices
• Providing information on community resources
• Identifying personal strengths and supportive relationships

6.4 Your care and support plan will wherever possible aim to reduce needs that already exist and to prevent or delay the developments of additional needs for care and support.

7. What happens when we arrange your care and support?

7.1 If you require ongoing care and support then we will identify an amount of money sufficient to meet your needs, this is called a personal budget. We will plan and arrange your care and support in the same way as we would for people who are eligible for support with the cost of social care using our usual contracts. We will set-up and manage the contract with the provider of your service. You will be required to pay us for the care and support you receive according to the financial assessment completed.

7.2 You may want to have control over the arrangement and management of your contract with the provider, if you are able to do this, we will help you identify your care and support needs, find a suitable provider of services and help you set-up a contract with your provider. You will be required to pay your provider in full for the care and support you receive.

7.3 You are able to make choices about the care and support you receive. If you want care and support beyond the value of your personal budget we will help you to arrange it.

7.4 You need to be aware that if at a future point in time you are no longer able to afford your chosen care and support or you become eligible for funded care and support, your care and support may need to change to reflect the value of your personal budget i.e. you may need to change provider or move to a different care home.

8. Reviewing the care and support you have in place and how it is arranged

8.1 We will review the care and support you are receiving in a care home or your own home on an annual basis or when you tell us that your care needs have changed. This will ensure that the care and support you are receiving is still appropriate and is meeting your needs.

8.2 If we arrange your care in a care home we will regularly review this to ensure it is still appropriate for us to be making the arrangements. Your circumstances may change and you may have the ability to arrange your care in a care home yourself or someone may have been appointed to act on your behalf.

8.3 There may be instances where we are arranging your care solely because you do not have a suitable deputy or lasting power of attorney for property and financial affairs. Where this is the case and where it is felt that this is significantly impacting on your wellbeing or we are not able to recover monies due to it, then we may need to apply to the Court of Protection to become your deputy.

8.4 Where Devon County Council is appointed as deputy for a person, the council may choose to cease the purchase of care services using its own contractual arrangements with providers. In such cases new arrangements for the purchase of services would be made privately by the acting deputy on behalf of the person i.e. the contractual arrangement becomes direct between person and provider as opposed to between the council and provider.

Policy Details

Version	3.0
Strategic Owner	Keri Storey, Head of Integrated Adult Social Care Operations
Business Owner	Tina Ramage, Principal Social Worker, Integrated Adult Social Care Operations
Author	James Martin, Policy Manager
Date of Approval and Commencement	July 2017
Last review date	May 2023
Last reviewer	Becki Billing, Senior Policy Officer
Changes made at last review	Minor formatting changes and link updated
Next review date	Quarter 2,  2024/25