The total coping score is made up of 6 elements in England and 4 in Wales.

In England, each local authority was assigned a score based on:

1. Changes to social care budgets for children, adults and older people between 2010/11 and 2011/12
2. Average changes in user charges for a range of disability services including transport, community meals, respite etc. between 2010/11 and 2011/12
3. The care contribution policy put in place – how the local authority takes disability related benefits into account when calculating the amount people have to contribute to their social care funding
4. The level of efficiency reduction placed on personal budgets (which can make personal budgets lower than the cash equivalent of the care people would receive directly from their council)
5. The current eligibility criteria for state funded social care in the local authority (low, moderate, substantial or critical needs)
6. Any changes in eligibility criteria between 2010/11 and 2011/12

Welsh local authorities were measured according to the above, excluded 4 (due to a different personal budget system) and 6 (as no Welsh local authorities had changed their eligibility criteria this year)

The point scores from each of these areas were combined to give an overall score out of 100, and local authorities were ranked accordingly.