direct payments anyone ?

tessie_bear

we have been offered the direct payment route to pay for care for our son...is it a lot of faff ? has anyone used them ?

thankyou

Icequeen99

depends on what you use them for. If you employ a personal assistant, you have to deal with tax, national insurance, insurance, sick pay etc.....

Normally the local authority help with that or can recommend someone to do it all generally for a small fee (which you should ask for included in your direct payment) so it doesn't cost you anything.

IQ

tessie_bear

icequeen thankyou for your reply...i will know to ask about the fee...thanks again

nannytone_2

i get direct payments for a PA.

dpmy ;ry yjr tax, NI issue pit you off.

all you need to do is set up a bank account dedicated to the durect payments. contact a payroll company ( i use paypacket) and they sort everything out for you and provide you with wage slips and everything else you would need.

they charge £12 a month and a yearly payment .... cant remember how much right now, but it isnt a lot .... mine cvosts about £200 a year, but i have a managed account as i didnt want to have any dealings at all with the money side.

the amount you have to pay for the service can be offset by the hourly ate that you pay.

so all i actually have to do, is send the timesheets off once a month, and when the payroll company returns them, i forward them to social services.

so not a lot of bother, and you get the exact care package you wish

Heycock

Topaziem#5
I'm not sure exactly how it COULD be abused. SS do the assessment based on a personal visit backed up reports from GP/Consultant/Health practitioner or any other parties with knowledge of the applicant. The needs and consequent indicative budget have to be agreed by all parties and the money which is held in a separate account can only be used on the agreed services laid out in the care plan. Any later variation on the spend has to be agreed with SS. I can only speak for how my LA works but the budget is reviewed at year-end and any underspend has to be returned. Accounts and receipts have to be produced for everything that has been spent.
Variations can be harder to get than you'd think. My wife benefits greatly from fortnightly massage sessions which I've been paying for but now I've given up work it's going to be a struggle. I asked SS if I could divert underspend on her day care. They said no. Problem is different SS depts nationwide have their own rules on what constitutes acceptable spend.
So, if there is any abuse, it's down to poor audit on the part of an individual SS dept.
From my viewpoint, it works....I get her daycare a hell of a lot cheaper than the LA could have provided..that is when they did it.
I do it all myself...but I buy the service rather than employ an individual. And while I'm fortunate to be relatively savvy and hard-nosed, I can understand people wanting to let others do it for them because with personalisation/direct payment comes responsibility.:)

nannytone_2

my social worker carried out my assessment, and no one contacted ,y GP or hospital consultant at all.

i am aware that i have a very good and vary helpful social worker.

the DWP can either accept the report, or decide to contact the GP/consultant regardless of the reports existance.

i dont put my hospital consultants name down on official forms now ... just my GP and my social worker, as thr hospital consultant is more of a hinderance than a help.

but you HAVE to put GP's detai;s. so i dont know how youd go about stopping the DWP from contacting them

Heycock

Nannytone...unless I'm very very wrong the law doesn't allow 3rd parties to access medical records unless you give them specific permission (like in insurance claims).
Also, if SS are doing the correct audit, it makes no sense to abuse the direct funding process. You get the money for an identified need and you spend it only on that. It's not discretionary like ESA or DLA in how it's spent. Or certainly SHOULDN'T be if they're doing their job.
The rules can be very strict...one of the main ones being that you can't employ a relative without giving a damned good reason.
The whole idea is that funding is diverted for you to decide how best to meet your care needs, usually cheaper than the LA can do it. It's a different concept to DLA which is designed in theory to pay for the additional incidentals of disability like extra heating/laundry/transport/incontinence aids et alia.
The stuff direct funding is brilliant for is the major costs like day care/domicillary/night care etc which can't be met from DLA.
For the benefit of those out there who seem to begrudge DLA, if you used DLA for, say, homecare you'd be lucky to be able to buy 4 hours a week. And that would leave nothing over.

nannytone_2

my doctor wasnt contacted at all during the assessment process, and hasnt been contacted since.

i am registered blind with the county council though, so it isnt like social services are just taking my word for it.

the fubding i receive is spent solely on a PA ( and i got some special equipment, but that was all ok'd by my sicial worker)

i choose to have a 'managed' account, so i dont have any access to, or dealings with, my bidget.

nannytone_2

sorry, i misunderstood you.

i thought you were questioning why i was getting direct payments, without my GP being involved.

i did say on my first post though, that the DWP might decide to contact the GP, regardless of if a social services report is sent with the claim.

Heycock

I think the requirement to furnish GP details is solely to confirm the applicant's condition and or diagnosis which may be self evident.
The needs aspect is applicant driven. That's the whole point. What are YOUR needs. How can YOU achieve them. How much will it cost if we let YOU organise it? Much better than letting some desk-bound jobsworth make a decision based on THEIR departmental/personal agenda and forcing you to accept their possibly skewed idea of your needs.

The next bit I'm putting in capitals 'cos I know it's going to upset the hang em high, disability bashing, benefit applicant generalising, don't see why my taxes should be spent on...(insert pet hate), borderline trolls.

WE CAN ALSO GET A CARERS ASSESSMENT...YES...FREE TAX MONEY FOR RESPITE BREAKS ETC. DON'T YOU JUST HATE THAT! a DIRTY WEEKEND IN PARIS PAID FOR WITH YOUR COUNCIL TAX. ALL ABOVE BOARD OR SHOULD I SAY FULL-BOARD!!!!
Or alternatively a few nights overnight respite care for the loved one while the carer has a few days to catch up on their sleep. Lower case because some of you wouldn't want to read that bit anyway because your jaundiced views tar every benefit claimant with the same brush.

Soapbox back in the cupboard, rant over.
:beer::beer::beer::beer::beer::beer::beer::beer:

Heycock

Topiazem#10.. I see what you are driving at, but the way the money is allocated and the process which SHOULD follow it up means your claimant can only use the money to help with their need. If they egg the pudding and get money for homehelp for instance which they don't actually need they are going to be disappointed if they think they'll get an equivalent sum of money they can spend as they wish.

If the LA doesn't do its audit job properly then yes, your concerns are valid.