Am I eligible for help?

If you are a Rochdale Borough resident aged 18 or over and you have care and support needs or find it difficult to look after yourself, the council may be able to provide you with some help.  

To determine if you are eligible for support from the council you will need to have a care and support assessment to help Adult Care staff to determine if you are eligible for support and to identify your care and support needs.

What is the eligibility criteria for care and support?

The national guidelines advises that to be eligible for care and support you need to meet all the following national criteria:

1. You have care and support needs as a result of a physical or mental condition or an illness.

2. Because of those needs, you cannot achieve 2 of the following outcomes which you might expect to achieve in your daily life:

  • Managing and maintaining nutrition, such as being able to prepare and eat food and drink
  • Maintaining personal hygiene, such as being able to wash yourself and your clothes
  • Managing toilet needs
  • Dressing appropriately, for example during cold weather
  • Moving around and entering the home safely
  • Keeping the home sufficiently clean and safe
  • Developing and maintaining family or other personal relationships, in order to avoid loneliness or isolation
  • Accessing and engaging in work, training, education or volunteering
  • Making use of necessary facilities or services in the local community, including public transport, and recreational facilities or services
  • Carrying out any caring responsibilities such as for a child

3. As a result of not achieving those outcomes, there is a significant impact on your wellbeing. Wellbeing is simply defined as feeling good and functioning well.

How can I apply for a care and support assessment?

A care and support assessment is a discussion between you and a trained professional such as a social worker, a trained support planner or an occupational therapist. The purpose of the assessment is to help us better understand your needs and how we might be able to help improve your independence and wellbeing.

If you are aged 18 or over and would like to apply for care and support from the council, you will need to enter your postcode on the GOV.UK website to make sure you are applying for support from the correct council.

How to request a care and support assessment

Complete a self-referral form on the Rochdale Stay Well website for yourself or you can ask someone else to complete the online form on your behalf Rochdale Stay Well Assessment form. The form will take around 5 -10 minutes to complete. If your answers indicate that you may be eligible for support, you'll be asked to create an account and give your contact details so that we can stay in touch and send you information about your care and support securely.  

Alternatively you can contact Rochdale Adult Care:

Telephone:  0300 303 8886 Monday to Friday 8.30am to 4.45pm

Email: adult.care@rochdale.gov.uk at any time. 

In an emergency at all other times including bank holidays call 0300 303 8875.

Where do care and support assessments take place

  • By telephone
  • At an assessment clinic within the Rochdale Borough
  • At your own home, if this is necessary
  • In hospital – we can come and talk to you before you're discharged about any help you may need at home while recovering. (This will be arranged by the hospital staff).

We may later on, ask the opinion of other professionals who know and work with you, like your doctor - but only with your permission.

We also take into account the needs of your family or carer and can assess them separately if they request this.

What happens after my care and support assessment?

Once you have had a care and support assessment one of the below outcomes may be recommended:

  • A short period of rehabilitation or re-ablement (usually in your own home). This is to see if you can regain the ability to do some of those things you've been finding difficult, before we make a final decision on what care and support you need and whether you're eligible to receive funding. For more information about reablement services see Stars and Star Plus services on the Staywell website.
  • If you are eligible for support from the council you will need to complete a financial assessment, to decide whether you're in a position to pay towards the costs of your care and support needs.
  • If you're not eligible for support you will be provided with information and advice about what support is available in the community to help you and ways you can remain independent and improve your wellbeing

Use the contributions calculator on the Rochdale Borough Council website to get an idea of how much you may have to pay if you receive care and support from the council.

You can visit the Rochdale Staywell website for advice on how to make your own arrangements. This includes information about getting care and support at home to help maintain your independence, getting out and about, living with a disability, improving your health and wellbeing plus an A-Z of local services for adults including older people.

To request information and advice, email adult.care@rochdale.gov.uk we'll get back to you within 7 working days.

Useful links

Calculate your contribution on my the cost for care website 

Rochdale Staywell website 

What is a personal budget and what can it be used for?

A personal budget is money that a person aged 18 or over, living in the Rochdale Borough may be allocated following a care and support assessment and a financial assessment from the council.

A personal budget is not a personal income and can only be spent on your agreed support plan that will help meet your care and support needs.

A personal budget will not affect any benefits you receive.

You can choose to have either a cash budget or a managed budget  

Cash budget

A cash budget puts you or your representative in charge of managing your care package. You can recruit and pay for carers and decide whether to use an agency or a friend or family member who doesn't live with you and isn't your main carer.  This gives you more control and flexibility over the care and support services you choose.

Managed budget

A managed budget is where the council works with you to manage your care and support costs.

You can use your personal budget for:

  • Services you receive to meet your care and support needs
  • Paying someone to support you - employing a personal assistant (PA)
  • Services or equipment to support you to live at home independently
  • Paying someone to support you to attend local leisure activities
  • Respite care - to give you and your carers a short break
  • A carer to support you to go on holiday

You cannot use your personal budget for:

  • Employing a family member or someone who lives in the same household as you to provide you with support
  • Everyday living costs such as household bills, which you'd normally pay for with other sources of income
  • Alcohol, cigarettes or tobacco
  • Food and drink
  • Health needs (including NHS treatment) and transport to access health care
  • Gambling
  • Anything illegal 
Unhappy with the outcome of your care and support assessment?

If you're not happy with the outcome of your care and support assessment, you're entitled to make a formal complaint through our complaints procedure.

All complaints are treated seriously, and we will do our best to sort out whatever problem or concerns you may have. This helps us to make sure that we provide the best possible service to you.

?How to make a complaint:

  • If possible, talk to the member of staff or team you already have contact with and let them know what you are unhappy with and the reasons why. We may be able to resolve the problem there and then.
  • If you don't want to talk to the team or staff member you usually deal with, you can ask to speak to or write to a manager. If you do ask for a meeting, you can take a friend, relative or advocate along with you to help you make your complaint. If you're not happy with the response, you can ask for your concerns to be looked at as a formal complaint.

How to make a formal complaint:

We'll discuss your complaint with you and let you know what will happen next. You can contact the Customer Feedback Team at any time during your complaint:

Telephone: 01706 923537 

Email: feedback.council@rochdale.gov.uk

Address: Customer Feedback Team
Floor 2
Number One Riverside
Smith Street
Rochdale OL16 1XU

All complaints are recorded so that we can use the information to make sure we are learning lessons and improving services. We want to hear your views and for you to be confident in sharing them. The nature and content of your complaint will be dealt with in strict confidence and will not be disclosed to anyone who does not need to know. 

How can I access my records and what is in them?

Any personal information we hold about you is covered by the Data Protection Act 2018 

Information about you

This is about your right to see personal information about you held by Rochdale Borough Council's Adult Social Care and our responsibility to keep it confidential.

We need to keep records about you to ensure that we provide services that meet your care and support needs now and in the future. They give us a clear picture of what we are doing and why, and they help us arrange services as quickly as possible.

What is in my records?

If you receive or have received support from Adult Social Care, your social care record will contain:

  • Basic details about you such as your name, address and date of birth
  • The names and contact details of your family and carers
  • Information about your care and support needs, the wellbeing outcomes you have identified
  • Care and support plans
  • Letters, case notes and reports about the support you receive
  • Things that other organisations (such as health or other care services) tell us about your situation to help us to better understand your needs

These personal records are mainly held as computer files though some paper files, microfiche records etc. still exist.

Are they safe and secure?

Keeping records is an important part of our everyday work. We take our responsibility for keeping records safe very seriously and we take extra care that information given in confidence is kept securely.

The personal information we hold about you is covered by the Data Protection Act 2018. The Act requires Adult Social Care to comply with the rules of good information handling practices, known as the data protection principles. These principles require, among other things, that personal data is processed fairly and lawfully, is accurate and relevant and is subject to appropriate security.

All of Adult Social Care's employees sign a confidentiality agreement and work to strict rules on the use of your personal information.

Times when we share your information

There are times when it is essential to share information with other professionals so they can help you. For example, it could be your doctor, a district nurse or an agency providing services to you.

You will be asked to agree that we can do this when your assessment starts. As required by the Data Protection Act, where information has to be shared, we take great care to ensure that only the minimum information necessary is shared.

In a few exceptional cases the law requires us to provide information about you without getting your permission or telling you about it. For example, when it would prevent harm to you or someone else or to assist with the prevention and detection of crime.

How long are my records kept for?

Usually we only keep records for a set time after you last had contact with us. In some circumstances the law says we have to keep information about you for a longer time.

Records that are no longer required are destroyed. Paper files are securely destroyed and computer files are deleted.

Can I apply to see my records?

You have the right by law to see records we keep about you. You can also have a copy of these to keep.

You should make your request to see your records in writing. If Adult Social Care helps you now, your social worker (or the person you usually deal with) can also help you with your request.

The written request should be sent, along with two forms of identification to:

Address: Information Governance Unit, Floor 2, Number One Riverside,
Smith Street, Rochdale, OL16 1XU. 

Email: foi@rochdale.gov.uk

Two proofs of identity (one of which should be photo ID) can include:

  • A copy of either a passport, birth certificate or driving license
  • A copy of an official document that clearly shows your address (for example, a recent utility bill).

You will receive an acknowledgement by post or email to confirm your request has been received, and a full response will be provided within 30 calendar days containing all information you are entitled to.

What if information on my records is incorrect?

If you think any information recorded about you is wrong, you should tell us straightaway. We will look into your concerns and either correct the information on your record, or if we do not agree that the information is wrong, we will record your disagreement on your records

Get in touch:

Address: Adult Care
Floor 3, Number One Riverside,
Smith Street,
Rochdale, OL16 1UX

Email: adult.care@rochdale.gov.uk

Page last reviewed: 23/08/2023