If you are disabled and you are assessed as needing one of the services listed in section 2 of the Chronically Sick and Disabled Persons Act 1970, your local authority has a duty to make arrangements for the provision of the service. These services are:

Practical help in the home, eg home help;

Providing or help in getting a radio, television, library or similar recreational facilities;

Lectures, games, outings, or other recreational facilities outside your home and any help needed to take advantage of educational facilities;

Help with travelling to any of these or similar activities;

Any adaptations, such as a ramp or lift or special equipment needed in the home ‘for greater safety, comfort or convenience’; this can even include building an extra room on the ground floor;

Holidays;

Meals, either in the home or a local centre;

A telephone, and any special equipment necessary to use the phone, eg Minicom;

Your needs and local authority resources:

Local authorities may wish to refuse or withdraw services because of a shortage of resources and their eligibility criteria defining needs they will meet and services they will provide may be very strict in consequence. Local authorities are entitled to have regard to their resources in deciding how and to what level they will provide services to meet identified needs, but the circumstances in which a local authority may use its lack of resources as a reason for not providing services at all are limited.

It is only where the law (in an Act) requires a local authority to make an Assessment of a person’s need before deciding whether any services are required that it can take into account of its own resources, and then only where the type of service under consideration is such that an authority has to consider whether it is necessary or not for a particular person. This applies to most services under section 2 of the Chronically Sick and Disabled Persons Act 1970.

Resources cannot be taken into account in deciding whether services are to be provided:

In cases where there is an absolute duty to provide services which does not depend on a prior assessment of individual need, eg services under s.117 of the Mental Health Act 1983;

In cases where a person’s circumstances fall within in an authority’s eligibility criteria since the authority has thereby already decided that such needs call for the provision of services;

Once an authority, as a result of conducting an assessment has decided that a person has a need for services - that is, once an authority has accepted that there is a need, it may not use lack of resources as a reason not to provide the services to meet those needs;

Where a person is at severe physical risk if services are not provided.

Once services are provided, an authority may not simply withdraw or reduce them (whether or not as a result of introducing stricter eligibility criteria) without conducting a review of the community care assessment of the person concerned.

Seek advice if you feel you are not getting the services you need because of resource problems in the local authority. Resources issues are repeatedly coming before the courts and the above statement of the law may be subject to change.

Do you have to pay for your care?:

A local authority may charge for domiciliary services ( ie services provided in the home) and other services in the community (eg day centres) which it either provides or arranges for you. You cannot be charged for services provided by the NHS, such as district nurses. Many local authorities are introducing new or increased charges. Each local authority’s charging policy for domiciliary and day care is different, so what follows are general principles. (The government is currently looking at ways of harmonising charges by authorities.)

The local authority has the power to charge a reasonable amount for its services. However, it has a responsibility to consider each person’s case individually. They should provide you with written details of how much you will be charged and a breakdown of how this has been worked out, together with details of what to do if you think you cannot afford the charge.

In deciding how much to charge you, the local authority should take into account the amount you spend on meeting your everyday needs as well as any extra costs you may have as a result of your disability. For example, you may have extra costs for laundry, extra fuel costs, transport, special diet, specially made shoes, extra or warmer clothing and bedding, cleaning materials, painkillers; maybe you pay for gardening or walking the dog. They should make sure you have enough money for these things if you are charged for services.

Disability Living Allowance mobility component should not be taken into account in assessing your income (s.73(14) Social Security Contributions and Benefits Act 1992).

The local authority cannot charge:

Anyone (family, carer or friend) other than the person using the service; they can only take into account the income and capital of the service user when deciding how much you should pay;

The parent or guardian for children’s services if the child is under 16 and the parent or guardian is on income support, working families tax credit, disabled person’s tax credit;

A young person aged between 16 and 18, on income support or income based JSA;

For services provided under section 117 of the Mental Health Act 1983.

If you cannot afford to pay the charge, the local authority has a duty to decide how much you can afford to pay and reduce the charge or not to charge you at all. A council may not however say - if you do not pay we will not provide the service. It may also not withdraw a service because someone has failed to pay the charge. This is because the decision to meet a need is separate from and comes before the decision whether to charge for the service.

you can complain about the amount you are being charged and have your case heard by a review panel. Some local authorities have a separate charges complaints procedure which is shorter than the standard complaints described below.

If you are not satisfied with your care services:

Wherever possible problems should be resolved locally, perhaps with the aid of a local councillor. Social services departments must have a complaints procedure; most publish an explanatory leaflet. Information regarding the action you can take if you are unhappy about the assessment, or the services to be provided, should be given at the same time of the care assessment and again when you are informed of any charge. A social services complaints officer can provide a copy of the complaints leaflet but it should be easily available from your local office.