jen Report post Posted July 9, 2006 Has any one applied for direct payments? Is it worth having them bythe time you have arranged someone to look after your child and done the paper work. Is the paper work complicated to fill in peoples tax returns etc Jen Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
carrieq Report post Posted July 9, 2006 We are having a visit from social worker tomorrow to discuss options. Will let you know if I get any info! Carrie Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Busyknitter Report post Posted July 9, 2006 (edited) jen,we have Direct Payments. It was a bit of a palaver to set up; the main delay is finding your own carer and getting them CRB checked. The bank account was a bit of a faff as well. However, now it all in place it is absolutely wonderful. We are in complete control of the funding we have been allocated and organise respite flexibly to suit ourselves and our son's carer. I wouldn't want it any other way. For the record, we asked for a social services assessment August last year, had the assessment done in October, the funding was approved in November but it took till April this year to get everything organised. To be fair there was quite a delay simply because the person that we approached to be the carer got married in January, so she was somewhat preoccupied for a while If you aren't scared by the prospect of a bit of admin work, then I would strongly recommend Direct Payments. Our council has an arrangement with a charity that supports disabled people and their carers with DP admin. So they organise all the payroll side of things and tell me how much I owe the Inland Revenue. It's called Rowan and a lot of authorities use them. BK Edited July 9, 2006 by Busyknitter Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
BusyLizzie100 Report post Posted July 9, 2006 We get direct payments. It took ages to: a. wait for the social worker to visit b. get her to agree to what we needed c. get it sorted out ie agreed at higher level d. fine tune it, ie we had to keep at SS to say this just isn't enough. We started off with a half and half package, that is, we received direct payments for housework support (really easy - just paid a cleaning company) and the carer was allocated by a care agency - again, once the SS has done its assessment, the care agency then has to do its own care assessment, then it has to find someone appropriate for you and then you have to like them! We were very lucky and the care agency had someone suitable available straightaway. Having said that, we weren't entitled to much care. We have just recently had our package increased and we are about to do everything by direct payments now. An extra delay was caused by CRB checking, which takes up to 8 weeks, and the fact that our social worker left so we now no longer have a named worker, so nobody is actually dealing with us. If we have an issue, we have to discuss it with someone from the duty team, who doesn't know us from Adam and has to check everything, meaning more delays. The county council has put us in touch with a nannytax type of company and will pick up any fees payable to them; likewise it has paid for the CRB check. So, hopefully, the paperwork, ie working out NI and tax, should not be a problem. The hardest bit is finding the right person to care for your children. Other paperwork involves doing a quarterly return; you set up a separate bank account to receive the direct payments and then you have to account for every transaction into and out of that account, so you need to keep records of what each cheque is for. It's taken ###### ages to get to this point - about 2 years - and I still don't feel that we are getting enough hours of support, especially considering we have two ASD children. What I really need is several clones of me, my husband and Mary Poppins, and a live-in autism advisory teacher. Still, it is better than nothing. Lizzie Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Kazzen161 Report post Posted July 9, 2006 http://www.everychildmatters.gov.uk/social...ectpaymentfaqs/ Here's a link with some info. Karen Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Lynden Report post Posted July 9, 2006 We're in the process at the moment. Have had our social worker assessment so are just waiting on her report for us to check, then we'll apply. We dont forsee any problems though and I'm not afraid of a bit of paperwork as the respite will definitely be worth the hassle for us. Lynne x Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
