Deafblind rights factsheet-8
Fair Access to Care Services

Fair Access to Care Services (FACS) guidance came into effect in April 2003. 
It applies to all local authorities in England only, and applies only to adult services. Local authorities cannot afford to provide for everyone’s needs, however small. FACS says that decisions about what services to provide must be based on meeting those with the highest needs first. 

A person who appears to need social care services will be assessed according to the risk to independence and placed in one of four bands:
•Critical
•Substantial
•Moderate
•Low.

These are decided according to four aspects:
•Autonomy
•Health and Safety
•Managing Daily Routines
•Involvement.

The four aspects are all considered equal. So risks relating to health and safety are not more important than risks relating to involvement. This is potentially important for deafblind people who may have more related to involvement in social roles than to health and safety.

Each authority decides which bands of need they will meet and which they will not. Most authorities meet either critical and substantial, or critical, substantial and moderate. This means that people with moderate needs will get those needs met in some areas but not in others. But an authority can’t meet moderate needs of people with learning disabilities but only substantial needs of people with a sensory impairment.

Each authority must say how they are going to implement the guidance, but they must keep with the basic framework. They must publish information about how they intend to implement the guidance.

The deafblind guidance states that all assessments of deafblind people should be carried out by someone specifically qualified to do this. This should include FACS assessments.
 
Once a council has decided it is necessary to provide services to meet the eligible needs of an individual it is under a duty to provide those services. This does not mean that the person will get their preferred service, but they must get a service which meets their need. If the person is not to be offered services they should be given the reasons in writing. 

The guidance makes clear that the services provided must be based on the needs of the individual. This means that the authority can’t make blanket policies covering everyone. They cannot place an upper cost limit on any particular service – if your needs are more expensive than others because of the specialist nature of the service, the authority still has to provide it. They cannot say no-one will get a certain type of service. If you need it you must get it unless there is an alternative way to meet your needs. 

A local authority can charge you for some or all of your services. They must do this in line with Government guidance. The Sense campaigns team can provide you with more information on charging for services.