Disability Social Care 0-25 Service (Local Offer)

Children 0 – 18

You can request a Children's Social Care assessment by calling  01733 864180. This is the first point of contact for all of Childrens Social Care.  

They will ask you some questions to help decide who is best placed to respond to your request. Please provide as much information as you can, including that your child has a disability.

Adults over 18 

If you are over 18 and are not already supported by the Disability Social Care Service, or any other Social Work Team you can request an Adult Social Care assessment.  If you need to contact Adult Social Care please:

Complete our online form 

or 

Telephone: Adult Social Care: 01733 747474 

or

Email:  adultsocialcare@peterborough.gov.uk 

Please provide as much information as you can about your situation, your needs and what you are looking for support with 

The Disability Social Care 0-25 teams support children and young people with disabilities and their families who have an assessed social care need. 

Our teams are made up of Team Managers, Senior Practitioners, Social Workers, Care/Team Support Workers and Business Support. 

When we assess the needs of disabled children and young people we take into account the needs of their parents and carers and other children in their immediate family.

A member of staff from either our Disability Social Care Children’s team or Transition team will get in touch with you to introduce themselves and the team, talk to you about the assessment process and make arrangements to meet you and your family.

We will ask your permission to talk to other people who know your child/young person and your family’s circumstances. This would include parents (including those who may not live with the child or young person), other adults involved in looking after your child or young person, brothers and sisters, school or college, health professionals and other important people in your child/young person’s life. We will talk to you about who that might be for your child or young person and family. For young people over 16 years they will need to give their permission if they have capacity to do so.

We aim to complete our assessments within a maximum of 45 working days of starting them. We will let you know when the assessment is starting, keep you informed throughout the process and share the completed assessment with you so you have the opportunity to share your views and for these to be recorded within the assessment before it is signed off.

To complete the assessment we will:

• Talk to you on the phone or virtually to gather information
• Visit you, your child or young person and other members of the family at home
• Spend time with your child or young person to get to know them and their views.
• Visit your child or young person in other places they spend time, such as school or college
• Talk to others involved and/or ask them to share information about their involvement and how they support your child or young person
• Look at important documents like your child or young person’s Education, Health and Care Plan, medical reports or other documents, depending on what is relevant to your child or young person
• We will always involve your child or young person in the assessment process in a way that suits them and will find out from them and others how best to do this

Some of the things that we consider during the assessment are:

• child or young person’s abilities and needs
• child or young person’s views, interests and what’s important to them
• The views of parents and carers
• Strengths and needs of parents/carers
• Impact of caring for the child or young person on the family
• Support available to the child or young person
• Support available to the family
• Child/young person’s social networks
• Home environment, community support, professional network around the child/young person
• Any other things that are relevant to the child or young person

The information we gather is used to write the assessment report.

We consider the needs identified in the assessment against the support already available to the child/young person and their family, before deciding whether there are any unmet Social Care needs which require additional support or services to meet those needs.

We will carry out an assessment if: 

• There is a  presenting need which relates directly to the child’s disability. 
• There is a physical, learning and or neuro-developmental disability or condition diagnosed by a doctor or consultant that is substantial, long lasting and permanent. 
• The needs that result from their disability mean that the child requires total or substantial support, not appropriate to their age, from another person which is not available within their family or wider network 
• There are social Care and safeguarding needs that cannot be met without specialist social care assessment.  

The disability may include significant and permanent:- 

• Physical Disability 
• Sensory Impairment
• Moderate to Severe Learning Disability
• Global Development Delay
• Complex Health Conditions resulting in significant physical and or learning disability
• Neuro-Development conditions which significantly impact on their ability to undertake activities appropriate to daily living. 

We consider the needs identified in the assessment against the support already available to the child/young person and their family, before deciding whether there are any unmet Social Care needs which require additional support or services to meet those needs. 

There is a range of support that could meet the assessed needs. The support that is offered, however, should address the needs identified in the assessment. It is also recognised that needs and circumstances change over time for disabled children and their families and this will be considered in reviews.

Level 1 

The child or young person’s needs may have an impact on them or the family and needs can be met by support that is available to all.  The Childrens Social Care first point of contact (see how to request a social care assessment) will offer information and signposting to things that may be of benefit. 

Level 2 Need

The child or young person’s needs limit their participation in community activities, and they need support to broaden experiences and prevent impact on development.  Siblings and parent or carers opportunities and lives may also be impacted. 

Support  

Our team will provide information about things that are available to all and some that are available for children and young people with disabilities.

• The child or young person and their parents and carers can use universal support services and activities available to all in the local area as well as community and voluntary sector support.  

• There is a range of activities, groups and support for children and young people with disabilities and their families that you can access yourself without the need for a social care assessment.  For some you may need to show proof of disability. 

• Term time and holiday clubs and sports activities including adapted cycling, swimming, sensory swimming, Boccia and archery run by Vivacity 

• Groups and activities run by Circles Network including Circles Stars. A weekly dance and drama workshop 

• Term time and holiday activities for children, young people and families, trips, family support, information, access to counselling and therapies, youth clubs and more run by Little Miracles  

 Level 3 Need

The child or young person’s needs result in lifelong impact, there is an impact on their development, and they need support to participation in community and other activities.   The child’s needs are impacting on the wellbeing and development of siblings and the parent or carers lives are significantly impacted. 

Support 

Depending on the needs of the child and the family we will work with you to develop support for children or young person to do things in their community, develop independence and life skills appropriate to them, support to meet personal care needs appropriate to them, the opportunity for children and families to have a short break. 

One of our Team Support Workers will work with children, young people and families to make a plan and put support in place.  This will be reviewed at least once and year but could be more often if things change. 

The sort of things that could be part of the plan include: 

• Any of the activities and support mentioned above 

• Evening, weekend and holiday activities for children of different ages in small groups run by Circles Network 

• Individual support to enable children and young people to do things in the community and develop independence 

• Individual support with personal care within the family home 

• A referral to Sleep Right, an individually tailored service that helps with getting the right techniques routines and support in place so that everyone gets a good night’s sleep 

You can if you wish request a direct payment that you can use to purchase some, or all of the support agreed in your child’s plan. 

Level 4 Need

The child or young person’s needs result in lifelong impact, there is significant impact on their development, they need support to have their care and other needs met and to participation in community and other activities.   The child’s needs are significantly impacting on the essential needs of siblings and parents or carers lives are significantly impacted 

Support 

Depending on the needs of the child and the family we will work with you to develop support for children or young person to do things in their community, develop independence and life skills appropriate to them, support to meet personal care needs appropriate to them, the opportunity for children and families to have a short break and to keep children and families safe. 

• One of our Social Workers will work with children, young people and families to make a plan and put support in place.   

• We will visit you at least every 6 weeks and will review the plan at least every 6 months. 

The sort of things that could be part of the plan include: 

• Any of the activities and support mentioned above 
• Evening, weekend and holiday activities for children of different ages in small groups run by Circles Network 
• Individual support to enable children and young people to do things in the community and develop independence 
• Individual support with personal care within the family home 
• A referral to Sleep Right, an individually tailored service that helps with getting the right techniques routines and support in place so that everyone gets a good night’s sleep 
• Overnight support for an agreed number of nights in the family home, with a specialist foster carer or at our Childrens home for chidlnre with disabilities 
• You can if you wish request a direct payment that you can use to purchase some, or all of the support agreed in your child’s plan. 

Disability Social Care Direct Payments for Children and Young People 0 – 18 

If a child or young adult with disabilities has had an assessment from the Disability Social Care 0-25 Service and is eligible for support, rather than being allocated services from us, you can choose the support or services you feel will best meet agreed outcomes, needs and your circumstances through the allocation of a personal budget.

A personal budget is an amount of money that we believe will meet the agreed social care outcomes and needs. It can be a Direct Payment or services or both. Direct Payment gives you more flexibility and choice to arrange and purchase support or services in the way that best suits you.

You can view comprehensive details about children's direct payment by viewing our Disability social care childrens direct payments webpage

The role of the Transitions Team is to: 

• Gradually take over the support around the age of 14 or 15 of young people already with the children’s team 

• Carry out children’s social care assessments as described above for young people referred to the team over the age of 14 

• Review, plan and coordinate support depending on needs 

• Plan for the future and adulthood with the young person and their family 

• Carry out an adult social care assessment when the young person is approaching 18.  This is called a Care Act Assessment. 

• For those eligible for adult social care support, plan it with you 

• Organise and review the adult support while the young person is in education and continues to have an Education, Health and Care Plan 

• When a young person is ready to move on from their EHCP we work with Adult Social Care to ensure a smooth transition 

Our aim is always to encourage the use of inclusive activities and services that are available to all. We will provide information and advice about these and support young people to use them as independently as possible. 

Depending on the needs and wishes of young people the sort of things that could be part of a Care and Support Plan are:  

• Support to get out and about and do things in their community 

• Having things to do when not at school or college 

• Support to develop independence and life skills  

• Making decisions for yourself and support when this might be difficult 

• Support to meet personal and other care needs  

• Planning for moving out of family home (if that’s what’s wanted) and support that might be needed 

• The opportunity for young people and their carers to have some time apart 

• Support to families and carers 

• Support to think about and prepare for the future 

You can find out more about some opportunities of things to do during the day at the City College Peterborough Day Opportunities page.

We will work out a personal budget which is the amount of council funding made available to meet your social care need.   You can request this as a direct payment if you wish.  Your named social care worker will talk to you about this  

For more information visit the Personal Budgets and Direct Payments (Adults) | Peterborough Information Network 

When you are over 18 years old any social care support you might need is organised by adult social care.

If you have been getting care and support from children's social care services, you may be eligible for support from adult social care.

If you have not been receiving support, but think that you might need it, this page explains what you need to do.

To find out more visit the Support from Adult Social Care page or call Adult Early Help on 01733 747474.