Using this Handbook

This Handbook has been designed to help people who need to access social care support. It can also help family members or carers understand how it works.

The Handbook has been structured to give you the information you need at each stage of your journey.

When reading this Handbook, each step of your journey is broken into smaller and easier to manage pieces.

You can read through the stages in order, or you go straight to the information you are looking for.

Please be aware that the order that the Handbook is structured in may not exactly reflect the conversations or processes you personally experience.

The Handbook is designed to help you understand the stages of the process. It will also give you guidance about what to do if you have any difficulties at any stage.

Search for information

You can also search for the information you are looking for using the search button. You will find this in the menu:

Save and print information

You can download and print each article, a whole section, or the whole Handbook by clicking the “Print these articles” button. This button is at the bottom of the part you want to save.

If you are printing the Handbook, please be aware that some information can become out of date.

We recommend you check the online version regularly for updates.

Give us your feedback

The Handbook is a live resource, meaning people are keeping it up to date all the time.

Please tell us if you found sections useful or if you think they need improvement. You can do this by using the feedback buttons on each page.

Who created this Handbook?

This Handbook has been put together by a team of people with experience of social care support, including people who use support and family carers. Professionals who work in different parts of the system have also contributed to the Handbook. Professionals who are also autistic have reviewed everything too to help make the information easier to understand.

You can see the logos of organisations who have contributed at the bottom of the page.

This website is hosted and maintained by Self Directed Support Scotland. You can find out more about them on the Self Directed Support Scotland website.