This does contain some out of date information, but contains many useful materials
Information and Introduction to the Highland Pilot Direct Payments Scheme
This site has been put together to give you information about the scheme and about what it might mean for you. Because the site will not necessarily answer all your questions, at the back of it is a list of contacts in various organisations who are prepared to offer you more information and advice. Please feel free to contact them as they are expecting to hear from people in your position.
The leaflet (Direct Payments Scheme) can introduce the scheme to you briefly, and your Care Manager will be offering you more details. Please discuss the contents of this site with your Care Manager, and ask him/her any questions you might have. If they are unable to give you the answers right away, they will attempt to find out the answers for you.
Why "Direct Payments"
What is meant by "Pilot"
Joining the Scheme
Leaving the Scheme
Taking care of the money
You as Employer
Conclusion
Why "Direct Payments"
The Government has made it possible for local authorities to make cash payments so that approved individuals can buy their own care, in line with their needs as identified by the local authority in their community care assessment. Highland Council agreed to pilot a Direct Payments Scheme, because such a scheme will offer people on it more control over their own lives and a real say in how their care is provided.
What is meant by "Pilot"
In March 1997, Highland Council Social Work Committee agreed to run a Highland Direct Payments Scheme Pilot for up to 10 people. The Pilot will run from April 1998 to March 1999. It is a Pilot so that during that year how it works (or doesn't work) can be watched closely to see:
- Whether or not it is a useful scheme for users;
- What opportunities and difficulties arise for users and for Highland Council staff;
- How much it costs the Highland Council to run such a scheme.
Because Highland Council have not run a similar scheme before, having a "pilot" means that, in the light of the experience of all those involved over the year it will be possible to:
- Make sure the Scheme is run in a way which is user friendly;
- Ensure that the financial side is properly set and accounted for;
- Have adequate support for those using the Scheme.
When a scheme is "pilot" then it can be adjusted during the course of the year if necessary.
Overseeing the scheme is a Management Group which includes Highland Council staff (from Personnel, Finance, Housing and Social Work), representatives from Health, Voluntary Organisations, Users and Carers. An objective look at the scheme will be carried out by the Quality Assurance section of Highland Council Social Work Services. Your part in all this will be to respond to questions put to you by Quality Assurance officers or the Management Group twice a year.
Also it is very important that you are able to tell your Care Manager when you find your needs change, or the care you are purchasing is not adequate. Similarly, if you have any difficulties with the actual working of the scheme, it is very important that your Care Manager feeds these back to the Management Group or the Quality Assurance section.
At the end of the "Pilot" the Highland Council Social Work Committee will decide whether or not to continue this scheme. Their decision depends on information and comments drawn together about the scheme (including comments from users) by staff in the Quality Assurance section of Social Work Services. There is a separate description of this monitoring and evaluation in the pack.
Joining the Scheme
The steps you have to take to join the Direct Payments pilot are:
- Your Care Manager assesses your need for care, and you agree this with him/her;
- Your Care Manager makes an application on your behalf to the local Area Social Work Services Manager;
- You receive a letter from him/her confirming that you have been accepted onto the pilot;
- If you receive a letter rejecting your application, then you may query it and appeal to the pilot scheme management group;
- You sign a letter of agreement with the Area Social Work Service Manager which details what financial help you will receive, and which services you will use the money to buy.
This is a simple description of what may be a very complicated process. Along the way there are many things for you to discuss with your Care Manager including - being an employer, how to recruit staff, or obtain care services from an agency, and how to manage the financial side of this. Advice and support will be offered to you
It is worth noting that you must fulfil the following criteria to be accepted on the scheme:
- You must be between 18 and 65 years of age;
- You must have been assessed as needing community care services;
- The Care Manager must be satisfied that you can manage this scheme or that you have adequate supports in position which are acceptable to the scheme;
- You must not be retained under mental health legislation or be on leave of absence from hospital or conditionally discharged from psychiatric hospital;
- Social Work Services must be satisfied that your participation in the scheme is cost effective for the Service.
Leaving the Scheme
You may choose to leave the Direct Payments Scheme at any time for a variety of reasons - your choice will be respected. Because the money for the Scheme is paid into your account in advance, your Care Manager will require a minimum of 4 weeks notice to bring your agreement to an end.
In the event of misuse of the scheme, for example failure to comply with the financial regulations, the Social Work Service reserves the right to remove people from the scheme. This decision can only be made by the Area Social Work Manager and would be communicated in writing to you, normally with 4 weeks notice. If this happens, the Care Manager will ensure that services to meet the needs identified in your community care assessment will be made available. Under certain circumstances, including death of the user, user leaving the area, or entering permanent residential or nursing care, their individual membership of the Direct Payments Scheme will come to an end. It will be the Care Managers responsibility to inform the Area Social Work Manager in any of these circumstances.
Taking care of the money
It is important that all public money is accounted for, and so how the Direct Payment Scheme money is managed is carefully laid out.
Also the Highland Council charging policy relating to Social Work Services will apply to services purchased through the Direct Payments Scheme. You will be financially assessed and the amount you receive for the scheme will be "net" That is, your assessed charge will be deducted from the money you receive before you are paid it.
Any money you are given under this scheme can be used only for buying community care services which you have been assessed as needing - also the money cannot be used to buy services from the local authority or from health services.
You will be required to open a bank account for this scheme only, into which the Council will pay your money every 4 weeks in advance.
This bank account can be set up by post, by telephone, by your visiting the bank in person. In addition, the person providing your care (either on behalf of themselves or an agency) will be required to complete a timesheet each week which you will countersign to indicate that they have indeed worked the hours stated.
It is likely that you will contract with an individual accountant, or an organisation, for them to provide you with payroll services. The completed weekly timesheets will be sent to this person or organisation who will then calculate how much the person should be paid on the basis of your original agreement with them, taking into account any relevant issues such as tax. They will inform you how much you should pay to the personal assistants and you will sign cheques for the right amount.
On a 6 monthly basis you will have to send to the Finance Manager:
- Bank statement: this will show the amount of money paid into the account and the amount you have taken out;
- Timesheets: this will show how many hours care you have received in the 6 month period, and paid for;
- A statement from the individual or agency or organisation running your payroll: this will show the link between the timesheets and the pay cheques from your bank account;
- Receipts showing payment for any service such as payroll service: this will show any additional expenditure from your account.
In this way the Council will be able to account properly for the use of the Direct Payments.
You as Employer
Becoming an employer means taking on new responsibilities which many people will never have considered. However, in some areas it may be preferable for people using the Direct Payments Scheme to contract with an agency or an organisation to provide them with their care. In that situation, the individual will have a contract which details what they can expect from the agency or organisation.
However, this will not be possible or the choice of everyone. Therefore, enclosed in this information pack are some sample papers which might help you as an employer. These are a sample advert, sample job description and person specification, and sample letter offering employment.
Also available is a booklet published by the Scottish Office. This booklet contains useful and more detailed information about responsibilities of employers and what they may or may not expect from the personal assistants they recruit.
It is important that you consider carefully what you need your carers to do for you and how many hours a week you will need them to work. There are differences in employing someone for a fixed number of hours and on an "as and when necessary" basis.
If recruitment is an new area for you, you should decide how you will advertise and where, and in what way you will expect potential employees to apply:
by letter;
on a form which you will produce;
with two or more references
When you interview for your personal assistant(s), it may be helpful for you to interview with others who can advise you. They might include a family member, a friend with experience as an employer, a professional such as your Care Manager, a supporter from your self-help group.
The relationship between you as employer and the person providing your care will be vital to your well-being. You should have a clear idea about the standards you require from them and should put this in your letter offering them employment.
Nowadays employers have responsibilities under equal opportunities legislation and health and safety requirements. It is important that you find out about these and, in the pack there are useful contacts with phone numbers for this.
Under health and safety, it may be essential that your new carer has training in handling and lifting, emergency first aid, and food hygiene. While it may be possible for you to recruit someone who already has been trained, if this is not the case you should discuss with your Care Manager or relevant organisations how they can be trained.
In Conclusion
Although becoming part of the Direct Payments Scheme pilot may seem rather a complicated business for you, the benefits will be that you will be able to choose who gives you care, when they give it, and in what way they give it. It is important that you have the necessary support in all of this, and the enclosed list of contacts with telephone numbers should help you. Also your Care Manager will be very supportive.
If at any time, you find your involvement with the scheme is not going well, please contact your Care Manager right away. Remember, this is a pilot scheme and we would expect to have to make adjustments and improve on it over the year of operation.
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