Self-directed support (SDS)

Self‑directed support (often known as SDS) is the way you can choose and arrange your social care in Scotland. It gives you control over your support, so it fits your life and what matters to you. If you have been assessed as needing help, you can access self‑directed support to plan and organise support in a way that works best for you.

What is Self-directed Support?

How self‑directed support works

Self‑directed support begins when you contact us to ask for help. You then move through a number of different stages:

• an assessment
• a decision about eligibility
• planning your support
• choosing one of the four options
• putting your support in place
• a review to check everything is still right for you

Assessment

Your assessment is an open conversation about your life. You and your lead worker would talk about what is going well, what you find difficult and what you would like to change. In South Lanarkshire this assessment is called Living the Life You Choose.

Together with your lead worker, you look at:

• your health and wellbeing
• your daily tasks
• your home and community
• what makes life meaningful for you

How do I get an assessment of needs to access social care support in Scotland?

Eligibility

We use eligibility criteria to make sure support reaches people who need it most. We decide your eligibility as part of the assessment.

Needs are grouped into four risk levels:

• low
• moderate
• substantial
• critical

You can find out more about eligibility criteria in our Eligibility criteria guidance.

Am I eligible for formal social care support in Scotland?

Planning your support

Once your assessment is agreed, you and your lead worker would create a support plan. Your plan sets out:

• what you want to achieve
• what type of support you prefer
• how you want it to be provided
• who you want to provide it

Personal care is free in Scotland, although some tasks surrounding the care are subject to charging. If you receive non-personal care, it will be subject to means testing, called a financial contribution.

Further information about financial contributions can be found on the Charges for social work care page.

The four options

SDS offers different ways to arrange and receive care and support. Each option offers a different level of involvement and control, so you can choose the one that suits you best.

You can choose:

• Option 1 - Direct payment – you receive the budget and arrange your own support
• Option 2 - Individual service fund – you choose the support and we pay the provider
• Option 3 - Support arranged by us – we organise and pay for your care
• Option 4 - A mix of the above – a combination of Options 1, 2 or 3 that suits you

You can change your option at any time.

Reviews

We will agree a review date to make sure your support still meets your needs. You can ask for a review at any time if things change.

Contact us

If you or someone close to you needs support, call your local social work office on 0303 123 1008.

Feedback and complaints

We use Care Opinion to gather feedback on what’s gone well and what could have been even better. Your story helps us understand what matters to you and how we can improve the care we provide.

We take complaints about our service seriously and deal with them in confidence. We use the information to try to improve our services to prevent the same issue happening again.

You can access the complaints procedure via the link below: 

Comments, compliments and complaints procedure.