Arranging Support and Services from the age of 18 (Transition to Adult Care and Support)

1. Commissioning and Brokerage Procedures

This site contains a comprehensive Commissioning and Brokerage Procedures section which details the procedures and processes for arranging all services.

2. Arranging Services for Young Adults who are Self Funding or Arranging Alternative Support

Care and Support in the community

If a young adult is self-funding or intends to use alternative methods of support to those available from the Local Authority they may decide to:

1. End their Care and Support Plan and involvement with the Local Authority; or
2. Maintain their Care and Support Plan but arrange all of the services without the involvement of the Local Authority; or
3. Maintain their Care and Support Plan and request the Local Authority arrange the services in the plan.

If the young adult wishes to end their Care and Support Plan click here to access the procedures for ending a Care and Support Plan, including the things you must consider before ending a plan and situations when a plan cannot be ended.

If the young adult wishes to maintain their Care and Support Plan but arrange their services independently you should explain to them that:

1. The Local Authority has a duty to support them to arrange the support/services in the plan if they request it; and
2. What to do if they change their mind about arranging their own services; and
3. Arrange appropriate measures to monitor the plan and ensure statutory reviews of the plan are carried out.

If the young adult wishes to maintain the Care and Support Plan but for the Local Authority to support them to arrange the services in the plan you must:

1. Proceed to do so in the same way as if services were being provided by the Local Authority; and
2. Arrange appropriate measures to monitor the plan and ensure statutory reviews of the plan are carried out.

If the Local Authority is requested to arrange services by a young adult living in the community who is self funding they are legally entitled to charge an administration fee for making these arrangements.

Care and Support in a care home

Where the Care and Support Planning process determines that the young adult's needs are best met in a care home setting (including a nursing home) there is no legal obligation for the Local Authority to meet those needs or arrange these services. However, a decision can still be made using powers under the Care Act to do so if:

1. The young adult  requests it and the Local Authority agrees;
2. The young adult lacks capacity, their legal representative requests it and the Local Authority agrees;
3. The young adult lacks capacity and has no legal representative or suitable person to arrange services on their behalf;
4. The young adult has complex needs, or needs that are likely to change (if so it may be beneficial for the Local Authority to arrange their service and maintain a statutory review function);
5. The young adult's situation is unstable, or at risk of becoming unstable without support from the Local Authority;
6. The likely need for future Local Authority involvement is high if arrangements are not made on the young adult's behalf.

If you are going to be arranging care home services for a young adult who is self-funding you should do so using the normal procedures for arranging a care home placement.

Under the Care Act where the Local Authority arranges a care home placement for a young adult who is self-funding it is preferable that the Local Authority:

1. Commissions the service from the care provider directly; and
2. Seeks full financial reimbursement from the person through the financial assessment process.

3. Direct Payments

When the Care and Support Plan has been signed off you should proceed to arrange the Direct Payment as set out in the plan.

4. Urgent or Interim Support

When agreed any urgent and interim support should be arranged using the general Commissioning and Brokerage Procedures. Click here to access them.

5. Providing Professional Support

Professional support is on-going support that you intend to personally provide to the young adult that is above and beyond the statutory requirement to arrange, monitor and review services.

Examples of professional support include:

1. Regular Wellbeing visits;
2. Advocacy support;
3. Counselling.

You should discuss and agree the need to provide professional support with your line manager, as often the support may be better provided by someone from within the young adult's informal networks or a person or organisation with specialist skills.

If you do provide professional support the existence of the support should be clearly visible from the young adult's records.

You must also keep proportionate records of all professional support provided and ensure that the need for professional support is reviewed regularly through statutory review functions and supervision.

6. Arranging Alternative Services

Alternative services are services or methods of support that may be included in a Care and Support Plan to meet eligible needs but are provided outside of adult Care and Support. They include things like:

1. Housing;
2. Welfare benefits;
3. Health provision;
4. Colleges and training centres;
5. Specialist transport services;
6. A community based group or church; and
7. A charitable support group.

Under the Care Act the duty to meet eligible needs is only discharged from the Local Authority when any alternative services in the Care and Support Plan are in place. This means that you must be satisfied that:

1. The young adult (or their representative) will make appropriate and timely arrangements to meet eligible needs through the alternative services identified;
2. The alternative services identified are available and can be provided in a timely way.

You must also consider any support that the young adult may need to arrange the alternative service and whether the advocacy duty applies.

Click here to access the advocacy procedures, which include information about the duty and the advocacy referral process.

If you have any concerns that needs may not be met by an alternative service in the time or manner intended you must take steps to:

1. Monitor the situation;
2. Plan and agree what action the Local Authority will take if the alternative service is not provided to ensure that its duty to meet eligible needs is met (this could be the provision of interim support during any periods of delay).

In some situations it may be appropriate and proportionate to support the young adult to make arrangements to access the alternative service in order to be satisfied that the service is in place and meeting needs as set out in the Care and Support Plan. You can support the young adult to arrange the service yourself or you could ask another person (such as a carer or an advocate) to do this. If the young adult is in receipt of paid support from an agency they may also be able to assist.

Any on-going need for support to access an alternative service on a regular basis should have been identified as part of the Care and Support planning process (for example if support is required each week to arrange specialist transport) and appropriate long term arrangements should be in place. If this is not the case you must explore methods for meeting this need with the young adult (or their representative) from a strengths based approach, and make best use of the services and support already available in the Care and Support Plan (for example the task could be added to the care plan of a domiciliary care agency).