Advising people with social care needs

This page is for housing advisers. If you are a new arrival please click here for information more relevant to you.

This page covers the whole of the UK

This page looks at advising people who may be able to get help from the social services authority if they are excluded from housing or benefits and are at risk of homelessness or destitution. In Great Britain the ‘social services authority’ means the local authority social services or social work department and in Northern Ireland the Health and Social Care (HSC) trust.

What are the housing and benefit rights of people with social care needs?

Generally, most people with social care needs get housing and benefit help from local authorities if they need it. So help from social services is essentially only a safety net for the most vulnerable, and a person who is excluded from housing and benefits can only get it if a member of their household:

• is a child, or
• is a vulnerable adult (e.g. a person with a disability or some other social care need).

For vulnerable adults there are restrictions as to who can be helped, based on immigration status, although help must be provided if it is necessary to avoid a breach of human rights.

Help for families with children

It is the duty of the social services authority to safeguard and promote the welfare of children in their area. The authority cannot provide accommodation or essential living expenses to the child of an asylum seeker where the Home Office provides these to their parent/primary carer, but it must meet any other care needs the child has (e.g. due to disability). In any other case there are no restrictions based on immigration status as to when support can and should be given to a ‘child in need’. If a child in need presents with an adult, see Immigration status: when excluded applicants should be helped.

Who is a child in need

In England, Scotland and Northern Ireland a child is in need if:

• they are unlikely to achieve or maintain a reasonable standard of health or development without support
• their health or development is likely to be impaired if support is not provided
• they are disabled, or
• in Scotland, they are adversely affected by the disability of another person in their family.

In Wales, a child is in need if:

• they meet the eligibility criteria as set out in regulations (see regulation 4), or
• they require support to protect them from ‘abuse or neglect or a risk of abuse or neglect, or other harm or a risk of such harm’.

Help for vulnerable adults with social care needs

The social services authority has a duty to support vulnerable adults who have social care needs. In England and Wales, the law clearly states that the duty applies to anyone who is ‘ordinarily resident’ in their area or who is present but who has ‘no settled residence’.

Unlike support for children, some applicants are excluded from support based on their immigration status. But these restrictions do not exclude a person who has claimed asylum and who is being supported by the Home Office. If the accommodation and/or support provided by the Home Office is unsuitable or inadequate the authority has a duty to meet their needs: R (TMX) v LB Croydon & Another [2024] EWHC 129 (Admin).

When a person notifies the authority that they have a social care need the authority has a duty to carry out an assessment. In England and Wales, the law clearly states that the authority may provide support and accommodation while it carries out its assessment.

Who is a person in need

The definition of a ‘person in need’ differs across the four countries (for relevant legislation, see the end of this section).

In England, the care and support needs of adults are assessed against national criteria set by regulations. An adult is a person in need if:

• their needs arise from or are related to a physical or mental impairment or illness
• because of their need they are unable to achieve two or more specified outcomes, and
• as a result, there is, or is likely to be, a significant impact on their wellbeing.

A ‘physical mental impairment or illness’ may include trauma or extreme distress. The specified outcomes are set out in regulation 2(2). A person is regarded as being unable to achieve one of the specified outcomes if they can only achieve them with assistance or with significant, pain distress or anxiety (regulation 2(3)).

In Scotland, an adult is a person in need if:

'... the giving of assistance [in kind or in cash] would avoid the local authority being caused greater expense in the giving of assistance in another form, or where probable aggravation of the person's need would cause greater expense to the local authority on a later occasion.'

In Wales, an adult is a person in need if:

• they meet the eligibility criteria as set out in regulations (see regulation 3) or
• they require support to protect them from ‘abuse or neglect or a risk of abuse or neglect, or other harm or a risk of such harm’.

In Northern Ireland, an adult is a person in need if:

• they are need of care and attention arising out of infirmity or age
• they suffer from illness or are substantially handicapped by any deformity or disability, or
• they have asked for assistance, and they are, in the opinion of the HSC trust, a person to whom any of the social care provided by it can be made available.

Restrictions on support for vulnerable adults

A vulnerable adult can be excluded from assistance:

• by their immigration status, or
• in any other case, if their need for support has arisen only because they are destitute.

But these restrictions do not apply to children and a vulnerable adult who is excluded by their immigration status should be helped if the failure to do so would breach their human rights.

Exclusion on the grounds of immigration status

A person is excluded by their immigration status if they are a person who:

• has been refused asylum and has refused to cooperate with directions for their removal
• has refugee status elsewhere in the European Economic Area (EEA) but not the UK, or
• is not an asylum seeker but who is in the UK in breach of immigration laws (such as a person who is an illegal entrant or overstayer). But this does not apply to a person who has leave without access to public funds because social services support does not count as ‘public funds’ (Immigration Rules, para 6.2).

If an excluded person applies for support the social services authority must notify the Home Office, including if one of the exceptions below applies (Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act 2002, schedule 3, paras 1, 4, 6, 7, 7A, 14).

Immigration status: when excluded applicants should be helped

A person who is excluded by their immigration status should nevertheless receive help in the following circumstances:

• the applicant’s children should always be accommodated (in other words, even if a parent is excluded a child should be accommodated or looked after)
• accommodation and support can be offered to people with children who are awaiting deportation, and
• accommodation and support must be offered if it is necessary to avoid a breach of human rights.

Getting help from social services in these circumstances may be difficult and those needing it should get advice from a solicitor, advice centre or specialist organisation.

Help under one of these exceptions could be an offer to pay the applicant and their family the fare home, if no breach of human rights would be caused as a result. An example of a breach (in this case a breach of Article 8: the right to family life) occurred where the offer was made to the child and her non-resident father, and so was unacceptable (and the authority was told to provide accommodation and support while the Home Office dealt with an application to stay): R (M) v Islington LBC [2003] EWHC 1388 Admin.

If the applicant is considering applying to stay in the UK on human rights or related grounds, this application is usually dealt with via the asylum system if the human rights are those against cruel or degrading treatment (article 3). Social services may be approached for help before such an application is made and will have to accommodate and support until the Home Office makes the necessary arrangements via the asylum support system. Applications based on family and private life (article 8) often, for example, because of a child’s long residence or their need to maintain contact with another parent, make it impossible for the social services authority to refuse support (unless the application is hopeless or abusive). Support should be provided until the Home Office decide the application: Birmingham CC v Clue [2010] EWCA Civ 460.

Exclusion: when an adult’s care needs are caused by destitution

A vulnerable adult is not entitled to support if:

• they do not have access to public funds, and
• their need for care and support has arisen solely because they are destitute or because of ‘the physical effects or anticipated physical effects of being destitute’.

A person does not have access to public funds if they are an illegal entrant or an overstayer or if they have been given leave with a ‘no public funds’ condition. A person is destitute if they do not have adequate accommodation or cannot meet their other essential living needs.

What help can be given to children and vulnerable adults

The social services authority can provide a child in need or a vulnerable adult with accommodation and other assistance in kind (e.g. food parcels). Where appropriate, accommodation can be in a care home or a nursing home. Support can also be given in cash, but in Scotland and Northern Ireland only in ‘exceptional circumstances’ or for a vulnerable adult, in ‘exceptional circumstances constituting an emergency’. In Northern Ireland, an HSC trust can ask the Housing Executive to help discharge its duty to provide accommodation

Other help with accommodation

In England, Wales and Northern Ireland, the social services authority should also offer accommodation to a person who has EU pre-settled status on grounds that they are the sole carer of a British child, if they are unable to access benefits or housing in other ways: R(U) v Newham LBC [2012] EWHC 610 (Admin)(case note, Legal Action, May 2012, page 35). This could include housing at nil or a very low rent: see here for more details. In Scotland, these households are eligible for housing and homeless assistance but may require help from the social work department if they have insufficient income to pay the rent.

In England, Wales and Northern Ireland, everyone, regardless of eligibility, must have access to advice and information from the housing authority if they are homeless or threatened with homelessness.