Self Directed Support

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 North Lanarkshire. 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.