Benchmarking Data

During November and December 2008 a questionnaire was sent to all 33 London Boroughs inviting them to complete a benchmarking questionnaire devised by Merton’s Direct Payments team.

From the 33, 7 responded with completed questionnaires and 2 could not complete the questionnaire due to staff holidays. No response was received from 23 boroughs, though reminders were sent.

Collated evidence

Borough names have been abbreviated as follows:

MertonM

BexleyB

KingstonK

IslingtonI

HackneyH

RichmondR

SouthwarkSO

SuttonSU

Size of borough

Q.1 Population
M / B / K / I / H / R / SO / SU
199,300 / 222,100 / 155,917 / 180,000 / 209, 656 / 179,952 / 274,866 / 185,900
Q.2 FACS Level
M / B / K / I / H / R / SO / SU
C & S / C & S / C & S / C, S & M / C & S / C, S & M / C & S / High M

C – Critical S – Substantial M – Moderate L – Low

Support Service

Q.1 (a) In House or External
M / B / K / I / H / R / SO / SU
In-house / External / External / In-house / In-house / External / External / External
Q.1 (b)
M / B / K / I / H / R / SO / SU
N/A / Inspire Community Trust / KCIL / N/A / N/A / RUILS / A4E Ltd / SCILL
Q.1 (c)
M / B / K / I / H / R / SO / SU
N/A / V / V / N/A / N/A / V / P / V

V – Voluntary (User led Group), P – Private Organisation

Q. 2

/ M / B / K / I / H / R / SO / SU
Customer group
Adults with Physical Disabilities / 59 / 143 / 78 / 111 / 112 / 111 / 73 / 73
Older People / 61 / 48 / 47 / 40 / 60 / 138 / 75 / 34
Mental Health / 38 / 40 / 37 / 24 / 17 / 18 / 9 / 10
Adults with Learning Disabilities / 18 / 34 / 9 / 40 / 46 / 36 / 25 / 32
Children / 51 / 44 / Adults only data / 121 / 80 / 79 / 99 / 162
Carers / 11 / - / 77 / 114 / 34 / 110 / 1 / -
Self-Funders / - / - / - / - / - / - / - / -

Please see notes - 1

About your service:

Q.1 No. of Staff
M / B / K / I / H / R / SO / SU
5 / 5 / U / 6 / 5 / 3.5 / 7 / 5

Q. 2

/ M / B / K / I / H / R / SO / SU
Advocacy / - /  / U / - / - / 
Admin / - /  / U /  /  /  / 
Finance /  /  / U /  / - /  / 
Payroll / - /  / U / - / - / Note 2
Recruitment /  /  / U / - /  /  / 
Support /  /  / U /  /  /  /  / 
Other / Advice / - / U / - / - / Advice
Q.3 (Yes or No)
M / B / K / I / H / R / SO / SU
- / Yes / - / - / Note 3 / Yes, Note 4 / Yes / Yes

Marketing:

Q. 1

/ M / B / K / I / H / R / SO / SU
User Guide /  /  /  /  /  /  /  / 
Website /  /  /  /  /  / Currently being developed /  / 
Newsletter /  /  /  /  /  / 
Surgeries /  /  /  /  / Note 5
Open Days /  /  / 
User Forums /  /  /  /  /  /  /  / 
PA Database /Register /  /  /  / Note 6 / 

Q. 2

/ M / B / K / I / H / R / SO / SU
Languages / As requested,
Already available in Tamil, Somali, Urdu / As requested / As requested / As requested / As requested / U / Translation available
Large Print / As requested /  /  /  /  /  / 
Audio Tape /  /  /  / 
Other / Braille

Q. 3

/ M / B / K / I / H / R / SO / SU
Yes / Yes / Yes / Yes / No / Yes / Yes / Yes

Q. 4

/ M / B / K / I / H / R / SO / SU
Intranet /  /  /  / Note 7 /  /  / 
Internet / Note 7
CD/DVD / Note 7
Hard copy within Team /  /  /  / Note 7 /  / 

Staff & User involvement

Q.1

M / Most Levels via User forum, Consultation & steering group. M has an OP thematic partnership Boards, which leads on DPS LAA Stretch targets.
B / As a user led organisation – all users are involved at various stages.
K / PA user group meet regularly. Users are also re-presented on disability partner-ship boards.
I / Adults have quarterly meetings and a user contributes to the newsletter. Children are a children’s support group for parents & carers – are currently developing this area.
H / Quarterly DPs User groups – chaired by Users themselves. Some are involved in consultation groups and IB and hold direct forums with CSCI.
R / User group is active and regularly attends operational and strategic meetings.
SO / DPs User workshops
User peer- support groups
Users attend DPs LIG annual open meeting.
SU / Initial stages of creating user & carer group, to be facilitated by the support service.

Q. 2

/ M / B / K / I / H / R / SO / SU
DPs Forum /  /  /  /  /  /  /  / 
Consultation group /  /  /  /  / 
Other / Testimonial
leaflet in production. / DPs User workshops
& Peer- support groups

Q.3

M / DPs team attends, team meetings & panels to ensure that DPs is promoted within.
Consultation group.
B / U
K / Consulted with where necessary, such as when updating policies and procedures.
I / U
H / ‘Quite high, but could be better’.
R / Staff are very actively involved in arranging DPs set up and working with Support services. Pilot authority in self-direct support.
SO / From Council; F-T finance officer, 0.10 commissioner and 0.10 monitoring officer in managing DPs support contract.
SU / Care management teams set up DPs.
PT Finance officer and a management post to review local DPs processes.

Q. 4

/ M / B / K / I / H / R / SO / SU
Yes / Yes / Yes / Adults – Yes
Children - No / Yes / Yes / Yes / Yes
Comments / Launching a user engagement process for all users.

Q. 5

/ M / B / K / I / H / R / SO / SU
Support /  / Did not understand the Question. / U / Assessment and care planning through self-directed support. /  / None at present, but tender will require supporting self-funders
Advice /  /  /  / 
Recruitment /  /  / 
Advocacy / 
Others / User Guide / User pack

Q. 6

/ M / B / K / I / H / R / SO / SU
Misunderstanding of DPs by staff /  /  / 
Misunderstanding of DPs by User. / 
Too Complex / 
Pressure to deliver PI – leading to unsuitable DPs. / 
Different processes in different teams / 
Slow Council processes; such as waiting for FAs to be completed. / 
Unsuitable or lack of PAs /  /  / 
Unwilling PAs / 
Assessed Contributions / 
Opening bank accounts /  /  /  / 
Monitoring forms / 
Employer responsibilities /  /  / 
Lack of DPs promotion by Staff /  / 

Training

Q. 1

/ M / B / K / I / H / R / SO / SU
Staff shadowing /  / 
DPs awareness /  / 
DPs Champions / 
Payroll WS / 
Moving & handling /  / 
Infection Control / 
First Aid / 
Food Hygiene / 
Health & Safety / 
Information updates / 
Safeguarding issues / 
Complex Health needs / Provided by PCT.
Diversity & Equality / 
Monitoring WS / 
All aspects of DPs /  /  /  / 
Employment responsibilities / 
Recruitment / 
Comments / Staff are continually trained through meetings & Supervision. / U / In-house training provides all except complex health needs. / ID

Q. 2

/ M / B / K / I / H / R / SO / SU
Never
Once / 
Every 3 Months /  / 
6 Months / 
Annually / 
Less often

Q. 3

/ M / B / K / I / H / R / SO / SU
Never / As requested / Every 6 weeks
Once / 
Every 3 Months /  /  / 
6 Months
Annually
Less often

Customer satisfaction

Q.1 (a) / M / B / K / I / H / R / SO / SU
Yes / Yes / Yes / Yes / Yes / Yes / Yes / ID
Q.1 (b) / M / B / K / I / H / R / SO / SU
Questionnaires /  /  / U / 
Surveys / Phone /  /  / 
Interview / 
Complaints /  / 
DPs Forum /  / 
Reviews / 
Frequency / Note 8 / Ongoing / Yearly / Yearly / Yearly
Q.2 (a) / M / B / K / I / H / R / SO / SU
Yes / Yes / U / U / Yes / Yes / Yes / Yes
Q.2 (b) / M / B / K / I / H / R / SO / SU
User Guide /  /  / Accounting this year’s evaluation / Continuous revision of practice according to feedback
DPs forum / 
Payroll Service / 
Regular inflationary increases / 
Improvements in information & Support /  / 
Service brought in-house / 
More user-friendly /  / 
PA Database / 

Q. 3

/ M / B / K / I / H / R / SO / SU
Commitment of staff / 
Innovatory methods /  / 
Support provided / 
Peer Support/DPs forum /  / 
Users involvement / 
Good customer service /  /  / 
Payroll / 
PA Database / 
Comments / Bank Staff / Adults -U

Q. 4

/ M / B / K / I / H / R / SO / SU
Increasing DPs take up /  /  /  / 
Payroll
Recruiting PAs / 
Recruit DPs staff /  / 
Collecting customer feedback / 
Policy & Procedures / 
Newsletter / 
Providing support for Self-Directed support /  / 
Working relationships with care management teams /  /  / 
Customer engagement / 
Training / 
Marketing/Publicity material / 
Nothing / 

Q.5

M / Since 2007,a change in leadership has meant that the DPs Team customer service has improved greatly. As the team is applying for a CSE award, All aspects of the serviceare being scrutinised.
B / U
K / U
I / U
H / Service came in-house 1st November and currently implementing huge changes.
R / Pilot authority for self-direct support, facing a huge changes affecting DPs users.
SO / Rated 29th out of 32 boroughs. Newly commissioned service after previous provider went into administration.
SU / U

Key:

DPs – Direct Payments

U – Unspecified

PA – Personal Assistant

IB – Individual Budgets

OP – Older People

LIG – Local Implementation Group

PI - Performance Indicators

FA – Financial Assessments

WS - Workshops

PCT – Primary Care Trust

ID – In development

CSE - Customer service excellence

Notes

The figures for customers receiving DPs have been grouped together so that they can be compared easily between the benchmarking respondents.
Adults with Physical Disabilities, HIV/AIDS and Sensory Impairments, have been group together under Adults with Physical Disabilities.

Children & Children with Disabilities have been group together as Children.

Payroll provided by Rowan Organisation.
Payroll is provided by enable Payroll. This response indicates misinterpretation of the question. As the query was to ask about how & who makes Payments for the council to the customer.
Additional money is given to Customers to pay for help with their financial returns (Monitoring).
Have in the past, but were poorly attended.
No official Database, however a list of numbers of current PAs, have been passed onto other Customers, where appropriate.
Due to change in service, are currently reviewing & rewriting policies, policies should be accessible in all formats.
M have 6 week & 3 month reviews, annually questionnaires and ongoing complaints and Direct Payments Forum.