In Control/self directed support/individual budgets

lorryw

Hello, does anyone have any experiences of using self directed support or individual budgets (same thing but different names in different council)?
We are currenlty going through the precess but feel that our LA are just using it to save money and have forgotten they are dealing with real people.

angelheart

:j Hi

I haven't used direct payemnts but work in the learning disabilty field and we seem to be getting loads of info on them, they seem good for some people and not so good for other, depends on what indivduals want out of a service. I have seen in control a few times and they are very good, very passionate about what they do.

good luck:A

nanokitten

I get direct payment and think its great, but that is because I used to have homecare from the local authority and it was worse than useless.
The law requires care managers to push direct payments as an option, but seeing as they work out alot cheaper they are often keen anyway.
-I think in my area the hourly cost of home care if you payed 100% contribution used to be about £15/h and direct payments includeing all the admin insuarance etc the rate is about £7.20 or something like that.

What area do you live in?
-most local authorities fund an organisation such as independant living to do the paperwork, for me this works very well (I just sign off time sheets and they do everything else).
http://www.ncil.org.uk/directory.asp
The only problem is having a gap in care whilst you advertise for new staff which can be slow, but you should have a contngency fund to dip into for eg agency staff and if things do go wrong, your social worker 'should be able to deal with them'

sheldon08

Does anyone else have experience of this?


I work for Social Services and it's something that is being talked about a lot recently. I would be very interested to hear people's experiences both good and bad.

sundries

I get direct payments.
Its good to the extent that i am now getting a few of the things that I need.

However, its also been used as an excuse for the services to 'dump' me. I havent see my consultant since November 2008 and I am meant to see him a minimum of every 6 months.

I've been given no support to manage the DP. For one thing the price of one of the services I was getting changed considerably. I kept writing/ringing to tell them they were over paying. I've given up now and am just letting it accrue in the account. I assume at some point something will click and they will freeze it or ask for it back - but theyve already done 5 audits on it so Ive no idea what is going on. (I'm around £3000 overpaid atm - good thing its in a separate account and I dont have a gambling/spending problem)

sheldon08

Thank you sundries for your reply.

By consultant do you mean some sort of broker? It is my understanding that that's how it works. Do you receive support from some sort of agency?

I'm sorry that you feel like you have been 'dumped' from the services. Commissioners are very keen for this to be the way forward though it seems my authority is a little slow in going forward with this.

My concern is that people won't receive the standard of care they should. IME my staff and I are well trained and supervised regularly, I'm not sure (though I could be very wrong of course) that private agencies will give the equivalent standard of care.

daska

I was having exactly this conversation with my Care Manager yesterday. I'm a guineapig with a largish personal budget which pays for a mix of live-in/out full/part time employed, self-employed and agency staff.

In some ways it's brilliant, the dishwasher alone has transformed my life. The flexibility is wonderful, I can ask for more care on days when I'm bad, I can purchase useful equipment etc. but there are downsides. The biggest problem for me is paperwork. I know what I've spent. I know what I'm going to spend. What I don't understand is why I've got a surplus... And yes, I also feel 'cut-off'. I appear very capable but my ME means that I often struggle to process information and with frequent changes of Care Managers has meant that the level of support I get has been woeful at times - it took months before they realised that I needed a support worker to sort out my benefits and another 5 months before they accepted that not being able to cope with my own benefits meant I couldn't sort out my husbands so they had to get him his own support worker - DOH! Thankfully that Care Manager is now on long term leave

My latest Care Manager is now arranging a 'broker' to come and help me work out where I am with my paperwork.

daska

sundries wrote: »

I've been given no support to manage the DP. For one thing the price of one of the services I was getting changed considerably. I kept writing/ringing to tell them they were over paying. I've given up now and am just letting it accrue in the account.

Have you written to them? Sorry I've no experience with DP and I know it's more constrained but with a personal budget you can use it on anything relevant e.g. if communication is an aim you can use it on a laptop/internet, or if improving contact with family you can use it on a day out/activity that will enable this. Maybe a written request to transfer from DP to personal budget to allow you to do this would get you the attention you should be getting.

sheldon08

Thank you daska. I work in Learning Disabilities and have been assured that everyone will have a broker or relative to manage their money. Someone from Welfare Rights can usually help you with your benefits (checking if you are on the right ones and the right rates) and may even do home visits.

Can I ask why you feel 'cut off'? What is the difference now?