What is social care?
Social care is practical, professional support for people who need extra support with everyday life. This might be help with cooking, shopping, personal care or support with managing money or getting a job.
Social care is help for people who need extra support with everyday life
Lots of people with a
learning disability
A learning disability is to do with the way someone's brain works. It makes it harder for someone to learn, understand or do things.
and their family get social care help which is funded by
the government
The Government are the people who run the country. They decide how much
tax
Tax is the money that pays for things like schools, hospitals and the police. There are different types of taxes like
income tax
Income tax is the money that is taken out of the money you earn every month. It helps to pay for things we all need like hospitals and schools.
,
VAT
VAT is also called Value Added Tax. VAT is the extra money you pay when you buy things. The money goes to the government to pay for things like schools and hospitals.
and
council tax
Council Tax is the money that people pay to the council. It helps to pay for things like social care (support for people), parks and dustbin collection.
.
people should pay for things and how things like the National Health Service should work.
Who can get social care?
Tens of thousands of people with a learning disability and their family members currently get social care support which is funded by the government. This ranges from a few hours of support a week for some people to round-the-clock care for others.
What is the Care Act?
The Care Act tells local councils across England what they need to do if someone needs social care support.It also tells councils what they have to do if they know someone is caring for a family member or friends and needs support as a carer.
What is the Local Offer?
Every council must have a Local Offer of support that it expects to be available in the local area for children and young people with special educational needs and disability (SEND).
Join the Why We Care campaign
Show your support by joining our call for more funding and better pay for workers in social care.
Special thanks to Irwin Mitchell Solicitors for helping us write this information.
We hold the Advice Quality Standard so you can be sure about the quality of the advice we provide.
The Mencap helpline is a member of Advice UK in England.