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CarolJ

Direct Payments - respite care

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deblegs. the joy of direct payments is that you can employ who you want and when you want.so dont see why there should be a problem employing your cleaner through direct payments scheme. lynn

 

 

just to say...............if social services say you must use the direct payment money for help with washing and dressing........

DONT tell them its for cleaning as they will demand the monies repaid

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hi, im not on here very much, but i thought i would have a look. i know i looked at this topic a bit too late, but i get direct payment for my son and get it paid quarterly. its great as it enables me to get a break from my son. i just had a week off as my mum took my son to haven. i saved up my direct payment and used it for a more substantial break. :rolleyes:

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I think it is worth pointing out that the rules for direct payments vary from county to county.

 

Also that you do need to have a social worker and have been assessed as being eligible for a service from children's services before you can receive them. As I understand it if they offer you a service they must offer the alternative of direct payments if you are capable of managing them. Direct payments are actually cheaper for them - in Hampshire an agency charge around £18 an hour but the direct payments amount is just over £10 an hour.

 

Some local authorities provide payroll services but others don't. Some help you with advertising and interviewing. Ours just gave us an example job description and left us to get on with it.

 

It is a bind having to work out PAYE, holiday entitlement, write employment contracts etc and you also need to take out Employment liability insurance which your local authority may give extra for or may expect you to take out of the payments. That said, it does sometimes allow you to get more hours for your money - I used student befrienders for £7 an hour so got almost 1.5 hrs for every hour direct payments cost me.

 

You can only spend the money on what's in your care plan. So, unless your social worker has included cleaning in the care plan you would be breaking direct payments rules by employing a cleaner. That said, some local authorities/social workers are probably more flexible than others.

 

The rules differ greatly about holidays and expenses. Some allow you to deduct travelling expenses entry fees etc for the carer from the direct payments others don't. Some allow the cost of an extra room for the carer if you take them on holiday, others don't. The rule of thumb is to ask if you're not sure.

 

Hope this helps,

 

Carol

 

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Hi - I use direct payments myself to employ a personal assistant (due to physical health problems) and for me it's definitely been the best use of care hours.

 

For my autistic son, I have finally got 3 hours per week through social services but they pay a service provider. Previously they have told me you can;t get direct payments for kids but I believe this is not true. I am going to ask again soon as the problem may have been that my son didn;t have any regular supoprt hours like he does now.

 

I would buy the service I am using in anyway, but I'd rather have more control over it and the option to change that if I wish.

 

mamabear

 

<b> <img src="http://www.asd-forum.org.uk/forum/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/cool.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="B)" border="0" alt="cool.gif" /> Has anyone heard of Direct Payments scheme. I found out via my Contact a Family newsletter. I had a respite carer 2 hours a week who did not work out. This scheme means the money for a carer is paid into an account for you. You can then choose how you spend it, ie you can hire a cleaner, save up your hours and get in a babysitter so you can have a jolly good girls night out! <img src="http://www.asd-forum.org.uk/forum/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/biggrin.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":D" border="0" alt="biggrin.gif" /> or as I have been thinking I could pay a couple of playstation mad school kids to play playstation - my scott loves playstation unfortunately he does not have the coordination or understanding to do the control himself. He will sit and watch for hours! You get to choose what you spend the money on.

 

<a href="http://search.atomz.com/search/?sp-a=00090f2b-sp00000000&sp-q=direct+payment" target="_blank">http://search.atomz.com/search/?sp-a=00090...=direct+payment</a>

 

My application is at panel at the moment but I think it is a great idea, flexible and you get to choose who you want, when you want. If you want to employ a carer theywill also help with advertising and interviewing so you perhaps go for a young girl who is studying childcare, a friend of mine has gone for a young girl who helps out at mencap.

 

Would be interested to see if anyone else has used this service or knows of anyone who has.</b>

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Hi. I work in the Care sector and with the sqeeze being put on council budgets due to austerity, social services are under pressure to offer the Direct Payment to there users as it works out cheaper for them.

I believe there is certain criteria concerning employing family as listed in previous correspondence and i think also that those being hired must have attained a SVQ 2 level of care. Social Services i am sure when offering direct payment, must also offer users a list of preferred companies. These companies prices can vary from expensive to within the budget you have been given. The choice is yours, whether to go with any of these companies or find someone/company yourself. You still require insurance, but if using company can bank hours to use at later date, this can be wrote into care plan. As for holiday pay & PAYE if using a company this is taken care of by them and obviously is incorporated into there price. Everything that you are employing them for is wrote in Care Plan and if unsure if eligability for say cleaning then get clarification from social services before having it entered. Using direct payment is more flexible for the user as you are in control of when you want your care and for how long.

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I used to have direct payments for support worker to support me in choir, and teach me lessons on my keyboard at home. I also used to get direct payments for day centres- what was not explained to me is that my contribution I pay is actually not the top up of the direct payment - but the direct payment tops up the amount you receive. which i got hefty price and got into debt. I lost direct payments when I lost social services

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also u need to set up a bank for the direct payment to go in and watch whats it been spent on, but it cant pay for a holiday but it can pay for the support worker to support u on a holiday.... so i have to pay there accomodation and mine, and also then direct payments pays for there travel hours and hours spent with me

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