Information and Advice (Adults)

Please note. All our information sheets are easy to print 

Information to keep you independent, safe and well

Visit this page to view Information Sheets on the following topics:

• Home Services Delivery Team
• Reablement
• Assessment and eligibility
• Planning your care and support
• What happens if you need care and support when you leave hospital?
• How to make a compliment, comment or complaint about Adult Social Care
• Your social care records and your rights

Carers

Do you look after someone?

Money Management and Planning for the Future

Visit this page to view Information Sheets on the following topics:

• Paying for care
• Paying for your own care and support when you leave hospital
• How do I plan for my care, treatment and financial affairs?

Welfare Benefits

Visit this page to view Information Sheets on the following topics:

• Attendance allowance 
• Benefit cap 
• Benefits for carers 
• How benefits are affected by moving into a care home – adults over 18 
• Disability Living Allowance 
• How periods in hospital can affect Social Security Benefits
• Income Support for long term sick & disabled people
• Pension Credit 
• Personal Independence Payment
• Personal Independence Payment – descriptors and scores 
• Universal Credit 
• Universal Credit transitional element 
• Council tax support and discounts 

Information

Information sheets provided by the Alzheimer's Society

The Alzheimer's Society have produced a range of useful Information Sheets designed to support and inform anyone affected by dementia.

'Quality Matters' Fact sheets provided by The Department of Health

The Department of Health and the Care Quality Commission have launched 'Quality Matters' an initiative which aims to improve the quality of adult social care across the UK.   

Quick Guides - an easy way to access key information from NICE on social care topics

These easy guides provide a quick and easy way to access key information from NICE on social care topics. 

Age UK information guides and factsheets

These information guides are short and easy to digest, giving an overview of the relevant topic. Factsheets are longer with more detail, for those who want more information. 

Independent Age advice guides, factsheets and leaflets

These free guides and information sheets  are full of information to help you boost your income, find the care you need, remain independent, choose the right place to live, stay connected with others, and more. They are aimed at people who live in England.

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, queer, questioning, intersex + (LGBTQI+) and disabled people

Written from the viewpoint of LGBTQI+ Disabled People, this external Information is aimed at LGBTQI+ Disabled People who are or wish to be in charge of their social care support.

It will be also useful for LGBTQI+ Disabled People who have PAs or support workers who work for them.

Complaints information

Complaints Leaflets produced by CQC and the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman.

Useful documents provided by the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Safeguarding Adults Board

• Safeguarding adults from abuse and neglect

• Keeping adults safe from abuse and neglect - easy read version

Useful information

You can find lots of useful information about how to stay independent, safe and well and live a fulfilled life in our new Guide to Independent Living. Formerly the Peterborough Care and Support Directory, the Guide to Independent Living in Peterborough produced for us by Care Choices, includes information on:

• Getting out and about
• Keeping healthy and well
• Staying independent at home
• Coming home from hospital
• Looking after someone
• Housing
• End of life care
• Paying for your care
• Safeguarding adults
• Choosing care and support

To obtain a hard copy of the Guide to Independent Living in Peterborough, please contact the Adult Early Help Team at Peterborough City Council on 01733 747474.

What is advocacy?

'Advocacy' means having someone to speak on your behalf. It means having someone to help you express your views and wishes, secure your rights and represent your interests. It helps anyone with a physical or learning disability, mental health needs or older people to make choices and decisions about their own health and social care.

In Peterborough all commissioned statutory and non-statutory advocacy services are delivered by a new partnership of specialist advocacy organisations and co-ordinated through one central team.  The service is called VoiceAbility and brings together advocates from VoiceAbility, Cambridgeshire Deaf Association and NYAS.  

A social worker will ensure you can access a specialist advocate as this is required under the Mental Health Act or in relation to mental capacity.    

Types of advocacy available:

• self advocacy - helping people speak up for themselves 
• citizen advocacy - matches people with volunteer partners in their local community
• formal, professional or crisis advocacy - paid advocates focus on a task over a specific period of time
• family and friend advocacy - happens on a daily basis by family members or support workers
• legal advocates – lawyers or advice workers with specialist knowledge and training who represent people in courts, tribunals or complaint processes
• best interests (non-instructed) advocacy - a person representing what he or she feels a person's wishes would be, if they were able to express them. Some mental health advocates are trained to do 'best interests' work for people with dementia
• circle of support - a group of friends and a facilitator work together to ensure a person in need of support has a good and full life.

Surveys

Each local authority with responsibility for providing adult social care services is required to conduct an annual survey of their service users. 

You can find out more on our Adult Social Care Customer Surveys page.

How to make a complaint or a comment

If you want to make a formal complaint, you may contact our complaints team. You can do this in person, by phone or in writing. This must done within 12 months of the incident occurring or the date when you became aware of it.  You can find out more information on the Adult Social Care compliments, comments and complaints page.

Feedback

We have been developing the Adults pages on the Peterborough Information Network (PIN) website following the feedback received from service users, carers and professionals. Here are some of the changes we have made over the last few months.  If we have not made the changes requested, we have tried to explain why.

You can find out more on our You Said, We Did page.

Providing information

The purpose of the Local Account is to provide information on Adult Social Care. This includes where we are doing things well, where we think we can improve, and how we are planning for the opportunities and challenges ahead.  ​

Find out more on our Local Account page.

You will find some useful leaflets on our Easy Read Leaflets page

Partnership boards

Partnership Boards help improve health and social care practice and commissioning in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough.

There are five Partnership Boards.

• Older People’s Partnership Board

• Carers Partnership Board

• Learning Disability Partnership Board

• Physical Disability Partnership Board

• Sensory Impairment Partnership Board

These boards are coordinated and supported by Healthwatch Cambridgeshire and Peterborough on behalf of both councils. 

For further information about the Partnership Boards, please visit the Healthwatch Cambridgeshire and Peterborough website.

Adult social care forum

We also have the Adult Social Care Forum. The Forum discusses issues in relation to health and social care services in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough.  

It identifies and considers key themes from:

• the Partnership Boards
• experts by experience groups
• other participation groups/forums

The forum supports improvement of local services. It ensures the highest quality and best value services for people locally, taking action as needed. The Forum meets on a quarterly basis.

It can influence, make recommendations, and/or escalate matters to the council’s Adults and Safeguarding and Adult Social Care Commissioning management teams, and the NHS Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Commissioning Directorate.

The Adult Social Care Forum is made up of representatives from:

• the five Adult Social Care Partnership Boards

• SUN Network

• Counting Every Adult co-production group

• Healthwatch Cambridgeshire and Peterborough

• Council staff

• Health staff

You can view the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Adult Social Care Forum Terms of Reference for more details about the Adult Social Care Forum