Social care support for young adults with SEND

Young people who are 18 or over who have a special educational need or disability may need extra social care support.

Support can range from being shown where to find information, to getting extra help from a social worker or a health professional. Social care support could be provided by:

• Friends and relatives 
• Voluntary and community organisations
• Private companies
• Adult social care

How we decide if a young person needs adult social care support

If a young person has higher care and support needs, we may offer a Young Person's Needs Assessment. This is used to decide whether the young person is eligible for help. If the young person is under 18 when they are referred this will be completed by the preparing for adult life (PfAL) service.

Young people moving from children's social care to adult social care services should never lose support during the move. A young person should continue to receive social care from children's services, even after they are 18, until adult services are put in place to make sure that there is no gap.

Find out how adult social care works

How we support young people who don't meet eligibility criteria 

We will still provide information and advice on other support that may be available. This is called 'signposting'. Preparing for adult life (PfAL) includes information about many organisations which provide care and support.

Adult services has a wide range of information, advice and support available for carers. Visit Get help with looking after someone for more information.