To receive a Personal Budget, we first have to be sure that you meet the Fair Access to Care Services (FACS). This is a national framework by the Department of Health to help councils decide who is eligible for services. The Council has a duty to provide services only to people who meet the criteria. The first step is to meet with a Care Manager to see if you are eligible. You can find out more information about eligibility either from the Department of Health (www.dh.gov.uk) or via our First Response Team (tel: 01983 814980).

After it has been established that you meet the eligibility criteria, the next step is to complete a Shared Assessment Questionnaire (SAQ).

The shared assessment is a questionnaire that identifies your support needs. There are a series of questions you will need to answer that look at all aspects of your life. For each question, there is a list of possible answers. You will need to choose the answer that best describes your needs.

The assessment will help the Council to make a fair and open decision about who gets what money to meet their support needs. Each of the answers has a value, the more needs you have the higher the points scored. Your points are added up to get a final score which is used to work out how much money can be allocated to you. This amount of money is called your ‘Indicative Allocation’ which is a guide amount to allow you to prepare your support plan. This amount may change depending on your costed support plan.

Filling in the Shared Assessment Questionnaire will give you an idea of the amount of support you need and the budget you have to buy that support with.

The next step to getting the services that you want when you want them is to prepare a support plan.

Support planning should be a positive experience, so think about who should be involved and where you would like to work on your plan. You might want to set a couple of hours aside or to break it up so that you answer 1 or 2 questions a day. You need to think about all areas of your life and how you will use your budget to make positive changes. Your support plan will need to show how much the things on it will cost.

You can find more information and useful hints and tools in the Self Directed Support Information Pack (click on the link below).

You may need some help with preparing your support plan and organising the support you need. This is called brokerage. A broker is someone who is independent, they can be a family member or friend, or could be a paid broker.

For many people taking risks is an accepted part of life. However people with a disability and older people are often discouraged from taking risks, either because of their perceived limitations or fear that they or others might be harmed.

This Guidance provides a coherent multi-agency framework which will establish a consistent approach to the processes of risk assessment and risk management whatever the context and environment of care / support.

The development of self directed support and personal budgets highlight the need to manage risk effectively: this needs to strike a balance between empowering individuals and protecting vulnerable people.

Through the process of risk management to the convening, when necessary, of a Risk Enablement Panel individuals can be supported in the assessment and management of any risks that might be potentially encountered in their support plan and staff enabled to make defensible decisions.

We have produced an easy read guide to self directed support and Personal Budgets which gives you more detailed information than is shown on this page.