7.1 The council has a duty under sections 9, 10, 25, 27, 59, 61, 64 of the Care Act to involve people as actively as is possible in decisions that affect them.
7.2 From the point of first contact with Adult Social Care, staff will consider whether the person needs any form of support for involvement.
7.3 Staff will make all reasonable adjustments to support communication needs and/or overcome other barriers to involvement.
7.4 People who need to have information in a particular format and/or support to communicate because of a disability or sensory loss, will receive:
- information in a form they can access and understand
- any support needed to communicate with staff
Please refer to the AIS-Policy2020-under-review.pdf for more information.
7.5 An interpreter, translator or other specialist assistance will be arranged if this is necessary to support communication.
7.6 The council will arrange an Independent Care Act Advocate for anyone who:
- is likely to have substantial difficulty (see section 8) in being involved in certain Adult Social Care (see section 9) or Safeguarding (see section 10) processes and
- has no appropriate informal representative (see section 11) to support their active involvement
7.7 The council’s duty to provide an Independent Care Act Advocate applies regardless of whether or not the person has or lacks relevant capacity.
7.8 Where someone entitled to the support of an Independent Care Act Advocate is also entitled to advocacy under other legislation, wherever possible the council will arrange an advocate who is able to fulfil both roles.
