Deciding how much control and responsibility you and your child want around their support
Once you have decided what your child needs support with, you can decide how much direct control and responsibility you want to take for arranging the support. This is known as Self-directed Support
The choice you make about how much control you want to have will depend on:
- what you and your child would prefer to do
- what you think will work for you and your child
- the amount of responsibility you feel you can take on
- what services are available where you live.
How does it work?
Once you have agreed what your child’s outcomes are that they need support to help them achieve, the next step is to think about how best this can happen.
There are four Options to choose from. 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 child’s support, even employing dedicated staff to support their child, and they feel able to take on the responsibilities this brings.
Some people prefer someone else to organise the support for their child, 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 child’s support.
To enable you to have as much or as little responsibility as you want, your social worker must ask you and your child how involved you want to be in organising their support.
You can find out more about each of the options on these pages:
What option is best for me and my child?
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.
Sometimes not all options are available
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 your child needs.
If this is the case, the social worker should still explain what the options are and whether each one of them is available.
Your social worker should still ask you how much control and responsibility you and your child want to have in arranging and managing their support. They should work with you to enable you to have as close to the level of responsibility you want, as possible.
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 want to have maximum control over my child’s support but I am not sure I can take on the responsibility
Choosing Option 1, where you are able to employ Personal Assistants to support your child, gives you maximum control. It brings you the freedom to decide who comes into your child’s life.
However, your success with this option will depend on your confidence, skills and time to be an employer. There is lots of help available to support you to do this, if you want to choose this Option.
There are many local Independent Support Organisations in Scotland who can advise and support you about being an employer. There are peer support groups in some parts of Scotland that can help too. You can search for these organisations using the Find Help search tool.
You might also want to explore the PA Employer Handbook for more advice and information: PA Employer Handbook.
I want to change how much control and responsibility I have for arranging my child’s support
If whatever option you have chosen is not working well for you, you can have a conversation with your social worker to look at changing the way your child’s support is arranged.
Again and Independent Support Organisation can help you when it comes to deciding how you want to arrange your child’s support, and how to make any changes. You can find details of 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 and your child want to have over their 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 your child is 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 their 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 a link to 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 and your child should be empowered to choose the Option that works best for you.
- The wishes and needs of you and your child are the most important, this is the case even if you and/or your child cannot make or understand decisions.
You can find the link to the part of the Guidance that talks about this here.