Social Care for adults

Essex County Council provides a wide range of services and support ranging from libraries and bus passes to recycling and emergency services.
Living Well Essex

Social Care information for adults is provided on the Living Well website:

This site aims to help Essex people take care of their health and well-being, manage health conditions, and find information about support and services in the local area. It also provides information on benefits and finances, staying safe, and tips on staying healthy and active. You can find out about:

  • health and looking after yourself.
  • care services, providers, and organisations.
  • help and support for people with health conditions.
  • benefits and financial advice.
  • speaking out about services in the area.
  • remaining independent in your own home.
  • work and education.
  • getting out and about.
  • staying safe.
  • caring for other people.

For information on Essex County Council services including social care services contact:

Telephone: 03457 430 430 or 01245 430 430, Textphone: 0345 758 5592, or email: contact@essex.gov.uk.

Usual opening hours are 8.30am-5pm Monday to Friday.

If you would like to find out about other health and care services available in your local area, or talk to someone about your experiences, call the Healthwatch Essex Information Service on: 0300 500 1895.

Essex County Council

Essex County Council has a team of specialist Sensory Social Workers covering the County. They can carry out specialist sensory assessments and can refer you for practical support with your sight, hearing or dual sensory loss. This might be by referring you to the ECL Rehabilitation workers, who support visually impaired people with mobility and daily living skills, or it might be by referring you to the Equipment Officers at ECL who can visit you in your home in order for you to try a range of equipment to support your hearing loss.

Perhaps you have wider needs beyond your sensory impairment, maybe you are finding it hard to remain independent at home, or perhaps there are other issues affecting your health and wellbeing. In this case the specialist sensory workers can offer you a full assessment under the Care Act and can then direct you to appropriate care and support. This might be by letting you know of help within your immediate area, perhaps voluntary organisations and local services, or it might be by setting up a Care Package for you that meets your needs and will help you to remain independent for as long as possible.

This will all be discussed with you during your assessment, and you will be very much involved in decisions about how best to help improve your situation.

The Care Act particularly recognizes the unique needs of people with a dual sensory impairment (Deafblind). The ECC workers can offer you a specialist assessment as they have been specifically trained to assess the needs of deafblind people.