Until the age of 18, services for children and young people with health and social care needs are provided by children's health and social care services.
From 18, support is provided by adult social services and will replace children's funding if the young person meets the set criteria.
Between the ages of 13 and 18, children will start a "transition" to adult services also know as "Preparing for Adulthood".
We have a lot of information about Preparing for Adulthood, which is sometimes called PfA on the Local Offer.
The "What does preparing for adulthood (PfA) mean?" (opens link in new window) page explains how to process works as well as giving you links to guides and other documents about PfA.
PfA should involve all the services that support areas like:
- Health and social care
- Mental health
- Education
- Financial benefits for the young person and their family
- Work
- Housing
Planning for this transition should begin when a child is in Year 9 at school (13 or 14 years old) at the latest.
Who to speak with:
For under 18's, please call the Children’s Service’s Duty and Advice Team on 01484 456848.
For age 18 and over please call Community Health and Social Care - 0300 304 5555.
In order to receive social care support as an adult, the young person will need to have a care needs assessment. Community Health and Social Care can give more information about this. If the young person has SEND, then a learning disability diagnosis maybe needed. More detail is shown below.
