The first step in organising help for someone with a learning disability is to ask for an Assessment. 

For an assessment telephone:  0845 045 5221.

The assessment is simply a series of questions to find out what life is like for that person and to see what help can be offered.

If, following assessment, it is clear that a person meets the social care eligibility criteria for services, then the team will try and organise services which will:

• give people skills to be as independent as possible and encourage opportunities to use those skills
• encourage employment and leisure opportunities - especially where this leads to better integration with the community
• support carers

An alternative to having services organised by adult care services is to have a direct payment so you can buy services yourself.

If, following assessment, it is clear that a person has specialist health needs then the team will work with the person on how best to meet those health needs.

See our section on "Accessing Social Care" for more details on our assessment and care planning processes.