Definition
The needs a person has for care and support, that their local council is required by law to meet.
The Care Act 2014 says that local councils are required by law to meet people’s eligible needs.
Councils have to carry out a needs assessment if a person appears to need care and support, and follow the national minimum eligibility threshold to determine people’s eligible needs.
Under the Act, local councils also have a duty to prevent or delay the development of needs for care and support, and reduce needs that a person already has. Councils also have a duty to provide advice and information about support available in the community that help people to meet needs that are not determined to be eligible.
The bigger picture
Referring to people with care and support needs, or people with needs, can suggest people are ‘needy’, ‘helpless’ and need to be ‘looked after’, rather than focusing on people’s rights and their gifts and potential, and on the support or adjustments a person requires. It labels people as passive recipients of care rather than active citizens, with gifts and potential, and with equal rights.
When we talk about needs we tend to focus on people’s basic survival and ‘personal care needs’ but not the things that give people a reason to live, like belonging, relationship, freedom, dignity and respect, meaning and purpose.
This language also suggests people with care and support needs are different, or separate. It doesn’t explain the support people need, and it locates ‘problems’ with people – suggesting they have – or may have – something that needs to be prevented or cured or treated, and that ‘care and support needs’ are a bad thing. It also deflects our attention away from wider changes needed in society.
Saying it differently
Try to avoid using blanket labels to define people. Focus on people’s rights, their gifts and potential and on the support or adjustments a person requires.
What people say
“I think needs focuses soley on, you know, it’s not personal if that makes sense. It can highlight or put the spotlight on deficits or see me as a problem rather than strengths or you know, my potential or capabilities. The alternative for me would be talking about our goals, aspirations but focusing more on the positive potential of uplifting me as an individual.” – Clenton Farquharson