Overview
Self Directed Support is about you having choice and control
over your life and support needs and the support that you require
to assist you to remain independent while living in your own house
or other community setting. Independent Living is about freedom,
choice, dignity and control. 'Choice' is about what you want to do
and where you want to live and have 'Control' over who provides you
with the support. We want to encourage people to have real choice
and control in all areas of their life.
An annual budget is agreed which can be used, for example, to
recruit your own Personal Assistants (PAs) or purchase other
services such as agency support or short breaks. A charge may
be made by the Council, meaning you may need to make a contribution
towards your support (children's services are exempt from these
charges.)
Take Control can assist you with all aspects of managing your
self directed support arrangements and once you have an agreed
Support Plan we can support you to manage your budget
effectively.
More and more people are looking to
control their own support arrangements. Options for doing this are
now becoming more widely available. However, the language
used can be a little confusing. Here's a brief
explanation of the key terms you may need to know.
Self-directed support
This is any system which gives you
genuine control over your day-to-day support (regardless of how
the money is managed).
Individual Budget
This is an allocation of money which
you can use to design and purchase your support. Before you
can get an individual budget you must arrange to meet with a Care
Manager from Social Work to discuss and agree your support needs.
If you are offered funding, you can then develop a Support Plan
which sets out how you will use the funding to achieve the outcomes
you have agreed.
With an individual budget, you may
choose to manage this money in any of the following ways:
-
Direct
Payment - where you manage the money yourself
(with support if you need it) to achieve the outcomes agreed with
your Care Manager. For example, you may decide to employ PAs, buy
in services from an agency, or arrange short breaks/respite. You
can even have a mix of services and direct payments. You can
choose to have this money as a third party payment
- where the money goes to an agent (someone you have chosen)
to act on your behalf.
-
Individual Service
Fund - where you can choose a service provider to hold
and manage your money and provide or arrange services for
you.
-
Local Authority
- You can also decide to leave your budget
with your local authority to arrange services for you.
In outline, this is the system
which has replaced the former direct payments system in
East Dunbartonshire. However, please note you will still be able to
receive individual budget funding as a direct payment i.e paid to
you directly, if that is your choice.
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