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Self Directed Support (SDS) 

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  • Self-directed Support (SDS) is a way of arranging social care that is designed to give you more choice and control over how your support is arranged and delivered. Instead of the council making all the decisions, SDS lets you choose the kind of support you get, decide who provides it, and arrange it in a way that suits your life. You can choose to manage your support yourself, let the council do it, or a mix of both. 
  • Depending on the level of support needs your child has you have the right to apply for a budget from Social Work. It can take some time to go through various panels to agree a budget and you need to complete a document stating what supports your child needs such as a support worker to take them out, improvements to make your home safe or specialist equipment amongst other things. 
  • Our families report that this is not widely advertised by Social Work, or they receive push back on applying. There are suggestions that there is a minimum age and no budget available until age 8 but this is not correct, and any age can be considered if you can demonstrate what the needs are and what would help support them.  
  •  It is likely that the more complex your child’s needs and family circumstances the more of a budget you can apply for, however the initial application needs to be completed by a Social Work, their supervisor needs to agree to submit it to their local Social Work group, and then there will be a series of panels and committees taking 12- 18 months before any budget would be received. You’ll need to have Social Work involved with your child 
  • Each council sets their own rules for who can get this support. Your local council will ask questions to find out what you need support with. This is known as an assessment of needs. The council will then decide if you can get support through SDS.   
  • If you either request a social worker, or are referred to social work, they by law need to carry out an assessment of the child/adult’s needs and they should also assess the carers needs. This may in turn lead to a support plan for the child with a budget attached; you could spend it on play equipment, a sensory garden, respite or personal assistants/support workers. You can fill out the assessment of needs yourself, hand it to the social worker and ask for it to be assessed. Social Work cannot refuse to carry out the assessment of needs, this is a legal right. 
  • There’s an agreement with Lanarkshire Carers to do the adult carers support plan for children with low to moderate needs and Social Work for critical to substantial, however as a charity Lanarkshire Carers has capacity issues at times. The adult carers support plan may also then lead to an adult SDS budget being awarded through the Social Work process. 
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