Before you start
You can decide how much choice, control and responsibility you want in how your support is provided
If you are eligible for formal social care support, you should be offered different options for how this is provided.
These options are designed to give you the level of responsibility you would like.
Some people want to be responsible for all aspects of their support, including employing their own support staff.
Some people feel comfortable to take on the additional responsibilities this brings. They feel that this option offers the most control, choice and input for how they receive their own support and who delivers it.
Some people prefer someone else to organise their support for them, while taking their views into account.
Some people are in the middle, and want some responsibility, but would like someone else to handle organising other parts of their support.
To enable you to have as much or as little responsibility as you want, your social worker must ask you how involved you want to be in organising your support. They will give you four options to choose from.
What option is best for me?
To help you decide, you can find out more about each of the four options in the articles linked at the bottom of this page.
You can get help to think about what option is best for you from a local Independent Support Organisation.
You can find their details using the Find Help search tool.
This video was produced by the Scottish Borders SDS Forum to show examples of how people who use the different Options. Although it features local stories, the information about how the Options work is true for all parts of Scotland.
When you might not be offered the options
By law, your council must offer most people all four options for how to organise your support.
However, there are some exceptions when they do not have to offer you all options.
Option 1 is the option with most responsibility, where the council give you money to purchase your own support.
Your council can say that Option 1 is not suitable if:
- your safety would be put at risk by being given money directly
- you need long term residential care or nursing care
- you have had Option 1 in the past and it had to be stopped for some reason.
If your council decides they are not going to offer you Option 1, they should explain clearly to you why this is.
Sometimes not all options are available
As a person eligible for support, you are usually legally entitled to be offered all four options.
But, in some parts of Scotland, not every option is available. This might be because there are no care organisations that provide the type of support you need.
If this is the case, your social worker should still explain what the options are and whether each one of them is available.
Regardless of what options are available locally to you, your social worker should still ask you how much control and responsibility you want to have in arranging your support.
They should work with you to help you get as close to the level of responsibility that you want. This is working within what is possible from the available options.
If I am an unpaid carer, do I also get a choice about how my own support is provided?
Yes, if you are an unpaid carer and you are eligible for support in your own right, you should be offered the same four options for how that care is provided.
The information in the next articles about each of the four Options also applies to unpaid carers.
Next steps
Read more about each of the Options, and how they work, in the next articles:
Lots of people are given the information they need to make an informed choice about their options.
But we know that some common issues come up for people. Here is what do to if any of these things happen to you.
I did not get told about the options I have for arranging my support
If this happens you can ask your social worker about the four options and ask why they were not explained to you.
You can show them this page and talk to them about the level of responsibility you want to have when it comes to your support.
You can explain that you have the legal right to be told about the four options.
If you already have support in place, you can ask for a review to explore if a different option would suit you better.
The option I want to use isn’t available in my area
If this is the case, your social worker should still ask you how much control and responsibility you want to have in arranging your support.
They should work with you to help you to have as close to the level of responsibility you want, as is possible.
A local Independent Support Organisation can help you work out how you can get the support you need with the options that are available.
You can find the contact details for your local organisation using the Find Help search tool.
The SDS Standards give guidance to local councils to help them deliver social care support well.
These SDS Standards are not laws, but they describe what good Self-directed Support looks like. Councils should work towards these Standards.
When it comes to the options you have around social care support, here is what the Standards say:
- Your social worker should consider and explore with you the Self-directed Support options. Any decisions taken should be based on how much choice and control you want to have over your support arrangements. (3.4)
- If it is not practical or appropriate to offer you all four Self-directed Support options, this should be explained to you and recorded (3.4)
You can find the full Standards online here
The law about social care support is called the Social Care (Self Directed Support) (Scotland) Act 2013.
It says:
- If you are eligible for formal social care support, the council has to tell you about the four Options for how much control and responsibility you want to have over your support arrangements.
- Councils, by law, have to explain what each of the Options mean and how they work.
- Councils also have to tell you about other people who can help you decide which Option you want to use.
- If you need help to make a decision about which option is best for you, and you don’t have another adult who is legally allowed to make decisions for you, the council has to take reasonable steps to help you make a decision.
- The council has to allow you to make a choice about which Option you prefer, even if making a choice is difficult for you.
You can find the full text of the law here.
The SDS Statutory Guidance is legal guidance written for local councils to tell them how social care support (Self-directed Support) should work.
It says:
- Councils and social workers should not consider any of the four Options is better or preferable to the others.
- You should be empowered to choose the Option that works best for you.
- Your wishes and needs are the most important, even if you cannot make or understand decisions.
You can find the link to the part of the Guidance that talks about this here.