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 South 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.
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