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CarolJ

Direct Payments - respite care

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B) 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! :D 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.

 

http://search.atomz.com/search/?sp-a=00090...=direct+payment

 

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.

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Hi i have worked for a friend who has M.S and she uses direct payments and it worked for her, you can choose who you want for your care and as you say they do all the advertising and can help with the interveiwing. In fact when i left i sat in with her to interveiw the potential workers, if im not mistaken the only people you cannot employ is members of your own family. lynn

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Hi lynn

 

I have checked the booklet and it says you cannot employ members of your own family I intend to employ my 19 year old neice who is doing her NVQ3 in childcare - shes my brother (not so little) girl! B) - they have said this is fine, I think there may be some flexibility, I was told that as long as the person does not live in the same household you should be fine. My social worker seems happy with my neice and she is taking my request to panel next week.

 

You can download a copy of the guide in pdf format from

 

http://www.dh.gov.uk/PublicationsAndStatis...7096&chk=1NxEws

 

Regards

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Dear Carol

 

I am just in the process of starting to use Direct Payment. I am just waiting for a disability organisation to come and help me set it up.

 

I like the sound of it.

 

From Debbie

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It works well for most people i think its the flexibilty of it you have care etc to suit you, unlike social services they tell you when they are sending care in, its made life a lot easier for my frend. lynn

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hi lynyona

 

I think that is the beauty of it. You can save your hours up and pay someone to babysit, you can get someone in to do the cleaning! What Bliss!!!

 

With the prospects carer we were tied to a specific 2 hours every week which meant Scott was not always in the right frame of mind and did not get out of it what he should of or he fell asleep!

 

I think this method relieves the pressure on social services and gives parents/disabled people greater flexibility and independence.

 

It does not affect any other benefits either. :thumbs:

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Dear All

 

I am still in the middle of setting up the direct payment. I have received a cheque which will then go into my bank account when this account has been set up.

 

I have a support worker who works for a company who provides support in the parental home and provides housing for those who have Asperger Syndrome. I will have to pay her a lump sum as she started a while ago.

 

Would I be able to employ someone else that is not involved with the company?. I have a cleaner tha tis not officially employed. Would I be able to set her on and pay her with my direct payment money. I do not need my support worker for a lot of hours.

 

Look forward to hearing feedback from you all.

 

From Debbie Hudson

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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

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Had Direct Payments lady round this week. I asked her about employing family. She said that the rules had changed and that you can now employ member of family ie grandmother or sister (as long as they live at another address from the person they are providing care for).

 

She gave me an example that sometimes, because of cultural reasons the family want someone who has the same background as them, so you can have a member of your family! B)

 

Thought I would just let you all know.

 

Although she did say she did not know how other areas operated. I live in London boruogh of Sutton.

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Bid

 

Parents of disabled chidren (aged 0-17) can receive money to buy services from an organistaion or employ a person instead of Social Services arranging the services for you.

 

The payments can be used to provide your child with stimulation, new experiences and independence such as

Short breaks/respite care

Day care placement

Assistance to attend an activity e.g. Youth club.

Personal care.

 

CarolJ has already put a link for direct payments on a previous posting on this topic. That should give you all the information you need.

 

There's also information on Social Services assessments on the Jargon Buster if you need it.

 

Nellie.

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Dear All

 

I have had to stop using Ruach Care Services. I was told by the man who runs the company that if I didn't use the Direct Payment money that has been given to me to buy services from Ruach Care, I would lose it. This is because I only require support as and when. The Direct Payment Scheme is not flexible enough for people like me.

 

I did at first decide to give it a go for 2 months, but changed my mind. I have gone through several months of not needing any support.

 

Because of my difficulties with social interaction, I would be very unlikely to seek human support when I am anxious, because I would not be able to say what support I would need.

 

People like me who can do a lot for themselves, only need support as and when. Unfortunately, there are no services that can provide this type of support.

 

The Direct Payment Scheme is fixed and it is based on fixed hours of help. I was given 4 hours a week, but I do not need fixed hours of help or visits.

 

I have emailed, my MP, the NAS Helpline and the NAS Policy Network Campaigner to highlight this.

 

I feel that I would like to see something provided for people like me who only need support on call. I don't see why something can't be done. It is something that will have to be looked into though.

 

Maybe oncall centres could be established. Doctors have to go on call and so do some workers.

 

From Debbie Hudson

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Debbie,

sorry to hear things haven't worked out for you.

This is the difficulty with many schemes, they might suit most, but inevitably some ppeople will have problems. :unsure:

I'm not accustomed with Direct Payment, but is this man allowed to demand that your payments be spent with his company?

I thought, from reading the posts that it was up to you how the money was spent...

It just sounds rather iffy to me.

Best of luck anyway, Debbie!

Esther x

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Maybe what they mean is that if you have an arrangement to use a company for four hours a week, and you do not use the hours, they are lost and your need will be re-assessed. Obviously companies want regular hours, as they are a busines and employ people.

 

One thing to remember with direct payments is that you are the employer and are therefore liable for health and safety and NI and tax (and insurance I think) - unless you employ someone though an agency, who will do it for you.

 

 

My friend is employing a befriender for her adult son through an agency using direct payments, and it is going well. Obviously you can save up the hours to use in a block - but only if that fits in with your care worker.

 

 

Direct payments save SS money - in that they do not need to recruit and train staff, or administer their wages etc. Often the price you are allocated per hour is not as much as SS would need to pay someone themselves - so you either pay the extra yourself, or have less hours.

 

Karen

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deblegs. my interpretation of direct payments is to get in your own care as and when you need it and from who you want( or it is in our area) i myself are a direct payments employee i night sit for a friend of mine and you are allowed to have so many hours in the bank if you dont use them say for if you decided you wanted to go out for the day etc but after so long they will want to know why there is money unused but my friend found that isnt a problem, doesnt you direct payment scheme have a support team in place (ours does) they do all the wages etc and if need be can find t you the right staff and even help with the interveiwing of the potential employee and they do all the advertising and vetting etc. But as someone says it doesnt suit everyone. lynn

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doesnt you direct payment scheme have a support team in place (ours does) they do all the wages etc and if need be can find t you the right staff and even help with the interveiwing of the potential employee and they do all the advertising and vetting etc

 

We have someone who can advise on direct payments (though don't think she's paid by the county) - but we have to do the wages ourselves and find the staff ourselves (though SS can suggest an agency). The county will do the police checks I think.

 

Karen

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Hi all, having read these posts previously i told a friend of mine about Direct payments. (her daughter has Retts Disorder) and she thought it would be excellent for her needs and was quite surprised her social worker hadn't mentioned it.Anyway, she went to see her social worker and asked her for information on setting it up.She was told that she couldn't have the direct payments as there isn't enough funds!! :angry: Apparently we don't have the money to fund such trivial things as direct payments.It got me so angry (nostrils flaring) The MSPs are alright though with their new parliment building costing millions, complete with plasma screens (a must apparently) and mini fridges in every office!! :angry: It really makes me want to puke! I am so enraged that we can't get the services we need for our children, it stinks and we are both going to complain by way of stinking letters, i almost ( heh heh but not quite :devil: ) feel lost for words i'm so angry. :angry::angry:

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Dear All

 

My Social Worker was very helpful to me. She did say that I probably would lose some of the direct payment but not all of it. She said that she would have a word with them and argue on my behalf to say that I need a flexible package.

 

First of all though, I am waiting to see if the service I was using is able to meet my conditions. I have had to lay the law down as I just got fed up of being messed around. If the service agree then my Social Worker will ask Direct Payments if they will give me a flexible package. If they do I will continue to use the service provider.

 

From Debbie

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I presume that to apply for this funding you need to involve a social worker? What do you have to do to get a social worker then?

I will have a look at the jargon buster you mentioned, i did follow the link but the information did not really tell me what I wanted to know )well it is nearly 11pm and I didnt get a lot of sleep last night - thats my excuse and I'm sticking to it.. ;)

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just read jargon buster information, its much clearer now thanks. By the way it is an excellent page with lots of useful information and links!

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Thanks for that!

Debbie

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Hi all

 

I tried to get direct payments for my autistic son however a stroppy social worker came out spent two min's with me and my son and said " hign functioning autisum doesn't qualify for direct payment".

 

One cross mum here.

 

Any suggested what I can do?????? :wallbash::wallbash::wallbash::wallbash:

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Hi Lisann and welcome to the forum, :)

 

Have you asked SS for an assessment? (See Jargon Buster for details - top right hand corner of screen). Hopefully you will get an assessment and that may show the need for direct payments. Try to stay calm but be firm when speaking to them.

 

The Princess Royal Trust for Carers are a good source of support and advice. It might be worth contacting them if you have any problems. http://www.carers.org/home/

 

Good luck

 

Nellie xx

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There are restrictions on what you can use the money on.

 

It's all on the cards, you have to pay tax, nat ins, and employee liability ins, SS requires financial declaration and bank statements.

 

Penderels run lots of DP schemes around the country, they help people with all the paperwork. See their site for more info.

 

-

Edited by Blue-Kat

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Just a quickie tried for direct payments back in may last year got told no couldn't have them because Char was high functioning ASD. Just reaplied for DD and we got them only 4 hours a fortnight but it's a start.So if you get refused try again it's worth it in the end. :dance:

 

Lisa x

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You can employ relatives if they don't live with you.

 

Hi i have worked for a friend who has M.S and she uses direct payments and it worked for her, you can choose who you want for your care and as you say they do all the advertising and can help with the interveiwing. In fact when i left i sat in with her to interveiw the potential workers, if im not mistaken the only people you cannot employ is members of your own family. lynn

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I have just gone throw the forms and sent them by registered post now been told there is a hold on all direct payments what should I do, its for respite, and for a carer twice a week on evenings.

 

Been told NO Money is left in Direct Payments can they hold Direct payments for this reason? and should our case be going forward to a panel for a decision as the forms are the presant and dont want to have to go throw the forms again????/?

 

 

JsMum

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Had Direct Payments lady round this week. I asked her about employing family. She said that the rules had changed and that you can now employ member of family ie grandmother or sister (as long as they live at another address from the person they are providing care for).

 

She gave me an example that sometimes, because of cultural reasons the family want someone who has the same background as them, so you can have a member of your family! B)

 

Thought I would just let you all know.

 

Although she did say she did not know how other areas operated. I live in London boruogh of Sutton.

 

Hi Carol we live in LB of Sutton too and I had mine set up through SCILL.They handle everything for me including the payroll.

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I'm completely disillusioned with direct payments. I was granted 3 hours a week for dd in the summer and still haven't been able to find a worker. I met one lady, then she fell ill and when she finally contacted me she had other work. Then I was given four application forms, two of which I contacted for interviews. One made an appointment then cancelled at the last minute, rescheduled for a couple of weeks later then never turned up. The other has not acknowledged my contact. I really needed support over Christmas but if I can't find anyone to do the work, then what?

 

I don't want to trust my daughter to just anyone, it has to be the right person, but I haven't even had the chance to make a choice so far. I have no family or friends who could do it, I despair :tearful:

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Did apply for direct payments ...was awarded 9 hrs a month I think but didn't see how i wd get it to work for my DD.....and the work involved!!! ..it just literally made me feel sick. I just let it slip but my social worker persevered and found me a family for respite (home from home). Works fantastic! DD is happy there and I don't feel guilty for not always having to be doing something with my DD. And I think a family situation suits my DD better...ie she sees 'normal' relationships and sometimes the (slightlyyounger ) daughter accompanies them on outings. Great :thumbs: :thumbs: :thumbs:

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i get direct payments fo day services so im fully aware of how it works.

 

u can employ someone for them to take u out and do things together

u can use it for day centres

 

what you cant do is spend it on things like equipment. the money means staying in a bank account only for direct payments and social services will then see what you have spent it on and it means you are unable to buy equipment or they take it away.

 

my day centre wants to take us out for social evenings, now the money can pay for the staff and transport what it cant pay for is like paying for cinema ticket like that. if you understand?

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I have just looked at caol's links about DP and read these posts and it semms to me that LA's at the end of the day decide wther or not to give direct payments, as i applied for our son in Nov an assement was done and i explained that all I wanted was fro some one to take our son aout once or twice a week and for my husban and me to be able to go out together once in a while as we haven.t been out together for several years as we have no family or friends to babysit.

They said that they would do an assement and persueae me to use PAYP and SOVA 9which is a volunteer organisation)! i unknowingly agreed to do this ( as i didn't want to appear difficult) unfortunately my son has only been on an excursion with the PAYP worker twice in 4 months!

I explained that this service was not full filling our needs they said another assesment would have to be done and that one couldn't be done for a year!

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