How to get a care needs assessment in the UK

Key Takeaways

A care needs assessment in the UK is the free first step with the council. Anyone can ask. Savings do not block the assessment, only the later bill.

The wait is often longer than the law's "reasonable" timescale. You do not have to sit in that queue with no cover.

The letter from Hackney arrived on a Tuesday in late August. Four hours a week. 8am to 9am, then 6pm to 7pm, "subject to a provider being identified". The date on it was eleven weeks after her daughter in Stoke Newington first asked for a care needs assessment.

That is the end of this story. The useful bit is how you start it, and what you do in the weeks the envelope does not come.

How do I get a care needs assessment in the UK?

Contact adult social services at the council where the person lives and ask for a care needs assessment. It is free. A relative, friend, GP, or the person themselves can request it. Find the council by postcode on GOV.UK, then call or use the online form.

The NHS is blunt about this: you need the assessment before the council will recommend equipment, a paid carer, or changes to the house. Age UK adds that you are entitled to one regardless of income, savings, or how "small" the need looks.

This guide is the England process under the Care Act 2014. Wales has a similar duty. Scotland and Northern Ireland use different systems, so check the local trust or council page if that is where they live.

What to say when you ring

Do not ask "are we eligible for care?" That is a later test. Ask for a care needs assessment, give the address, and describe a normal day.

Useful specifics:

• "She cannot get in the shower without holding the taps."
• "He has fallen twice on the stairs since June."
• "I am in Birmingham. She is in Hackney. I cannot do the 7am slot."
• "There is nobody in the house overnight."

Age UK's point about waits is boring and true: councils prioritise. If you underplay it, you go on a quieter list. If there is a safeguarding risk, say that word. The council can put support in before the full assessment.

Write down the date, the time, the name of whoever picked up, and the reference number. I keep a notes app for this because "someone in adult social care" is not a paper trail.

A friend or carer can ask with permission. If the person lacks mental capacity, you can still ask if it is in their best interests. If they have capacity and refuse, that is a different conversation.

What happens in the assessment

A social care worker usually comes to the house. Some councils offer a phone or online form first. Age UK says you can ask for face-to-face if a call does not fit. A son in Withington did exactly that after Manchester offered a telephone slot. His father goes quiet on the phone and sounds finer than he is.

They will ask about washing, dressing, food, the toilet, moving around the home, who else helps, and what the person wants the week to look like. They may speak to a GP or nurse if you agree.

Have someone else in the room if you can. People minimise. "I'm fine" is what you get when the assessor is a stranger and the stairs are right there.

Bring a short list. Times of day. What actually happens at 7.30am. Medication that needs a prompt, not a clinical opinion from you. A GP can advise on the health side. I will not.

Eligible needs, in plain English

After the visit, the council decides whether the needs are "eligible". In England that test is in the Care and Support (Eligibility Criteria) Regulations 2015. Three parts, all of them:

1. The needs come from a physical or mental impairment or illness.
2. The person cannot achieve two or more of ten daily outcomes without help, or only with significant pain, risk, or delay.
3. That has a significant effect on wellbeing.

The ten outcomes are ordinary life, not a medical diagnosis: eating, washing, the toilet, getting dressed, using the home safely, keeping it habitable, seeing people, work or volunteering, getting out into the community, and any caring they still do for a child.

Unable includes "can do it, but it takes most of the morning" and "can do it, but it is unsafe". The Withington assessment recorded the shower and the stairs. It did not need a new label from a consultant.

If they are eligible, you should get a written care and support plan and a personal budget. That can be council-arranged visits, a direct payment you use to choose a carer, or a mix.

If they are not eligible, ask for the decision in writing. You can complain. Prevention and signposting still exist even when the council will not fund a package.

How long a care needs assessment takes

There is no statutory number of days. The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman still treats four to six weeks as the normal band for a non-urgent case. In one published decision, a council took ten months. That was fault.

ADASS's Spring Survey 2026 found more than 400,000 people in England waiting for an assessment, for care or a direct payment to start, or for a review. On 31 March 2026, 41,769 people were waiting for a Care Act assessment. 4,732 of them had already waited six months.

The Hackney letter at the top sat in that pile. Four hours, eleven weeks, still no named carer on the start date.

CQC's local authority assessments have found needs assessment the weakest area, with 78 per cent of councils scoring 1 or 2, mostly because of delays. That is a regulator's score, not a reason to skip the request.

Ask when it will happen. If the date slides, ask again, in writing. After six weeks with no visit, use the council complaints process. The Ombudsman is the next step if that goes nowhere.

Money comes after, not before

Section 9 of the Care Act says the council must assess where it appears an adult may have needs, regardless of their view of the person's finances. The means test is a separate financial assessment.

In England, capital over £23,250 usually means you pay the social-care cost if the council agrees there is a need. The home you live in is normally left out of that test for care at home. Paying for home care covers self-funding, council help, and top-ups.

Attendance Allowance is separate and not means-tested. Claim it on the person's care needs, not on whether the council has finished its paperwork.

If you are an unpaid carer, ask for a carer's assessment in the same call. That is about your ability to keep going, including work. It is not a stealth move on your parent's file.

Help at home from a paid carer often costs £15 to £30 an hour, depending on where you live and what is needed. London sits higher. That figure belongs in the budget conversation, not in the first sentence to Mum.

What to do while you wait

Requesting an assessment does not freeze the household.

The Stoke Newington daughter put two private morning visits in from week three, same carer, shower and breakfast, while Hackney's clock ran. The council hours, when they finally arrived, sat on top. That overlap is allowed. Keep the invoices distinct so nobody argues later about who paid for Tuesday.

The Withington household booked an occupational therapy referral through the GP for grab rails while the Care Act visit was still unscheduled. Minor adaptations can come through the council. A stairlift or wet room may need a Disabled Facilities Grant. A pendant alarm can call for help. Getting off the floor still needs a person.

Visiting care covers the hours you can actually staff. If nights are the problem, that is a different arrangement. I am not going to tell you which symptoms "mean" you should skip visiting and go straight to live-in. A GP or social worker can look at that.

If you have already waited past six weeks, write to the complaints team and ask for a date in writing. Then ring them anyway.

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How Match with Care can help

The assessment tells you what the council thinks the need is. It does not produce a named person at 8am on Monday.

Match with Care is a managed introductory care marketplace. We interview carers, check enhanced DBS, right to work, and references, then show you profiles so you can meet someone before they have a key. We are not a traditional domiciliary care agency, and we are not CQC-registered as a care provider. Introductory matching does not work that way.

What we can do during a council wait is introduce a vetted carer for the slots you need, often the same person each weekday, with a care advisor in the background if the match is wrong. Visiting matches often come in around 20 to 30 per cent below typical agency quotes, with carers keeping more of the fee. If a direct payment comes through later, you already know who you want in the house.

If you want to talk through hours before the council date arrives, call +44 7962 657635 or email hello@matchwithcare.com.