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Social care services

Social care services could help you if you have MS or if you look after someone who has it. Social care covers a range of practical support that for most of us comes from our local council.

What are social care services?

Social care services come from your local council. They cover all the things you need to stay independent when you have a disability or long term condition like MS. You get these services at home, in the community or in a residential care home. This practical support includes:

  • information
  • special equipment
  • changes to your home to make life easier
  • someone to help with everyday tasks like getting dressed or washed
  • the use of day centres
  • support for your family carers, such as a break from caring ('respite')
  • a place in a residential care home if you can no longer live in your own home

If you’re in Northern Ireland social care doesn’t come your council but from your local Health and Social Care Trust instead. So in our social care information you’ll see that we talk about ‘your council or Trust’.

To get social care services, you first have an assessment by your local council or Trust to see what you need. You might have to pay towards the costs of these services. How much depends on your financial situation, and which of the four UK nations you live in.

On these pages we’ll explain how social care could help you.