Adult Social Care Glossary, v 0.6

6.108 Local authorities must determine how the adult's inability to achieve the outcomes above impacts on their wellbeing. Where the adult is unable to achieve more than one of the outcomes, the local authority does not need to consider the impact of each individually, but should consider whether the cumulative effect of being unable to achieve those outcomes is one of a 'significant impact on wellbeing'. In doing so, local authorities should also consider whether:

- the adult's inability to achieve the outcomes above impacts on at least one of the areas of wellbeing (as described in Section 1 of the Act and chapter 1 of this guidance) in a significant way
- the effect of the impact on a number of the areas of wellbeing mean that there is a significant impact on the adult's overall wellbeing

6.109 The term 'significant' is not defined by the regulations, and must therefore be understood to have its everyday meaning. Local authorities will have to consider whether the adult's needs and their consequent inability to achieve the relevant outcomes will have an important, consequential effect on their daily lives, their independence and their wellbeing.

A given situation could have a 'significant impact' on one individual but not on another. Therefore, professional judgement and analysis of the information gathered in the assessment are crucial to establishing whether there is indeed 'significant impact' on the individual's wellbeing. The following are examples of what 'significant impact' could mean: - Significant impact could be a consequence of a single effect: this means that the inability to achieve two or more outcomes affects at least one of the areas of wellbeing in a significant way. - Significant impact could be a consequence of a cumulative effect: this means that the individual may have needs across several of the eligibility outcomes, perhaps at a relatively low level, but as these needs affect the individual in various areas of their life, the overall impact on the individual is significant. - Significant impact could be a consequence of a domino effect: this means that currently the individual may have needs in relation to few eligibility outcomes, but it can be anticipated that in the near future other outcomes will be affected, causing a significant impact on the individual's wellbeing.