Help at home

This guide explains what help is available to you from your local council and the National Health Service to assist you to live as full and independent a life as possible.

This guide provides information about the types of support services that may be available in your local area to help you stay in your own home.

This guide explains what is meant by direct payments and personal budgets. Direct payments are cash payments made instead of direct service provision by your local council, so that you may choose and purchase care to meet your assessed needs. Since April 2011, you should have access to a ‘personal budget' from your local council. This is a virtual pot of money to meet all your care and support needs.

This guide explains what to expect from your home care agency and any home care worker they provide you with, and what to look for when you are choosing an agency.  It also explains about the standards that agencies should meet and how to complain if you are not satisfied with the service you receive.

If you are registered disabled and need to make changes to your home in order to be able to live independently, you may be eligible for a Disabled Facilities Grant (DFG). This guide explains what a DFG is, what the eligibility criteria are, how to apply for one, and what will happen when you have made your application.

This guide gives information about the help which may be available to assist you in carrying out maintenance, repairs and adaptations to your home.

This guide gives information about what telecare and telehealth is, how to get it and information to help you decide if it is the right solution for you.