Code: RT04a
The social services department within your local authority has a duty to provide you with support if you need it.
In order for social services to determine if you are eligible for a service including one-to-one support they will carry out an assessment of your need (see RT03).
The government's new guidance says that social services must assess you to see if you need one-to-one support. It also says that they must "Ensure they are able to access specifically trained one-to-one support workers for those people they assess as requiring one".
In practice this means that a part of your assessment must consider if you would benefit from one-to-one support and if there are things that you cannot do without this support.
The authority must also be able to provide "specifically trained one-to-one support workers". This means people with appropriate training and qualifications. These people fall into three main categories;
-
Communicator Guides: usually work with people who have become deafblind later in life, offering support that the deafblind person needs to live independently. They have qualifications from CACDP.
-
Interpreters: act as a communication link between the deafblind person and other people, using the deafblind persons preferred method of communication. They have qualifications from CACDP.
-
Intervenors: help children and adults who were born deafblind to learn by offering them sensitive, individualised one-to-one attention.
CACDP maintain a register of qualified interpreters and communicator guides, the National Organisation of Intervenors maintains a register of intervenors.
