Personal Budgets within Norfolk Social Services

January 09

Guidance for use by:

  • People interested in getting their support through a Personal Budget
  • Care Managers/Co-ordinators/relevant management staff
  • Support Planners/Brokers

This guidance contains all the information you will need to plan and set up a Personal budget:

  • What are the beliefs and values that underpin Personal Budget?
  • What are Personal Budgets?
  • Who is eligible to get a Personal Budget?
  • Who can set up a Personal Budget?
  • Will you have to make a Financial Contribution?
  • How to get started.
  • What if I need help with my support plan?
  • What needs to be in the support plan?

Forms included:

  • Keeping Yourself Safe
  • Action Plan

What are the beliefs and values that underpin Personal Budgets?

  • The individual is at the centre of this process and should be involved as much as they choose and/or as far as they are able.
  • The individual should be encouraged and supported to make their own choices and decisions.
  • The individual’s involvement should be recorded and reflected in their support plan.
  • Where an individual does not have the capacity to make their own decisions, those acting on the individual’s behalf should ensure that any decisions made will cause minimal restriction to the person’s freedom and rights.

What are Personal Budgets?

  • A Personal Budget is an allocation of resources to meet your social care needs over the year to come. This can be taken as cash or as services.
  • You can use the budget in ways that suit you. There aren't too many rules. You can be ‘in control’.
  • You can write your own support plan with help if your require, that shows how you think your Personal Budget should be spent.

Who is eligible to receive a Personal Budget?

You must meet the county council eligibility criteria for social care. If you require any further information on this please speak to your care

manager/co-ordinator

Our goal is to make Personal Budgets available to everyone needing support from our service over the next few years. However, this is a very big task and therefore will have a gradual introduction.

For the time being, we intend to concentrate on:

  • Young people moving to adult services (except Mental Health) Priority will be given to:
  • young people who want to plan for their support after they leave school or college.
  • Anyone who has or is likely to need very large, complex and expensive support
  • People who are in Adult Mental Services wishing to leave or at risk of needing residential care.
  • Older people who have not previously had a service (except Blue Badge) and who are currently not in a crisis or are about to leave hospital.

Who can set up a Personal Budget?

All staff who have a care managementrole can set up a Personal Budget once the support plan has been authorised.

Will you have to make a Financial Contribution?

This depends on how much money you have coming in. Everyone offered a Personal Budget will be assessed to see if they need to contribute toward the cost of their support. This will be done by our Joint Team Visitors who will make sure you are receiving all the benefits to which you are entitled.

A rough guide is that anyone not in or going into residential care on less than £170 per week will not be expected to make any contribution. If you have more than £22,500 in savings then you will be asked to pay the full cost of meeting your support plan. (all figures apply to 2008/9 financial year). However, there may be elements of your income/capital that will not necessarily count.

How to get started

  1. Both you and your care manager/co-ordinator will complete a personal budget questionnaire.
  2. If you and your care manager/co-ordinator cannot agree on the answers we will try to resolve the problem. If we can't do that, someone independent could help.
  3. You are told what the estimated budget is and how you can get help to write your support plan.
  4. You will write your own support plan, with as much help as you need.
  5. Your care manager/co-ordinator and another manager will agree to and sign off your support plan.
  6. You or your representative (eg family, friend, care manager, broker, service provider) will organise the support.
  7. You and your care manager/co-ordinator will hold reviews as agreed in the support plan.

What if I need help with my support plan?

You can do your support plan yourself or ask anyone else you would like to help you: Such as:

  • Friends and family
  • Independent Living Norfolk (telephone no: 01508 491222)
  • Your care manager/co-ordinator/assistant practitioner
  • Anyone else able and willing to help, eg broker, service provider

What needs to be in Your Support Plan?

There is no set format - you can write your support plan in any way you choose. But your care manager/co-ordinator must make sure the plan answers the eight questions below:

Question / What this means / What care managers/co-ordinators will look for / Your plan will only be agreed if
1. Who is writing this plan? / You can create your own plan with as much help as you need.
Circles of Support or Trusts are a good way to make plans if you find it hard to do it yourself.
However it's done, the support plan should show how you will have as much control as possible over your life. / If you are not able to make all the decisions yourself, the plan should show the decisions that you will be making and those taken by others.
If you can't speak or don't use words, the plan should show how you communicate and whether you need equipment to help you / You have made the decisions or been helped and involved as much as you can be.
For the few people who are not able to make decisions it must be very clear why this was not possible, and show evidence that they have been involved as much as possible.
2. What is important to you? / What are your likes, dislikes, interests, talents, important relationships? / A sense of what is important to you, any experiences or relationships that are important to you. / It shows a clear picture of you as an Individual.
3. What is working in your life?
What is not working so well? / How will you build on or improve the things that are already working in your life
What changes do you want to make in your life / The changes can be long or short-term changes.
If your are making long term changes, it might be helpful to break it down into achievable steps. / It shows how your life and wellbeing will be maintained or improved.
4. What are you hoping to achieve using your Personal Budget?
What are your intended goals /outcomes? / Using the Questionnaire you can think about how you can use your budget to meet the needs that you have identified. / What you want to do is realistic and achievable. / What you want to achieve relates to your answers in the Questionnaire.
5. How will I keep myself safe? / As well as thinking about what you want to do to make your life better you will need to think about the likely possibilities for things not working out as you had planned.
See ‘Keeping Myself Safe’ Form. / A completed 'Keeping Myself Safe' form.
The plan should show the action to be taken if your needs or situation changes and who will take that action. / The plan will only be agreed if the ‘Keeping Myself Safe’ form identifies likely risks and shows how these can be realistically minimised to a level considered reasonable by your care manager/co-ordinator.
6. What is the Personal Budget to be used for? / You must describe each area of expenditure with costs. It is a good idea to have a reserve for unexpected costs/ emergencies.
Please use the summary support plan at the back of this document to show how you wish to spend your money.
Feel free to be imaginative and creative and keep it legal. / The plan should say exactly how you wish to use your money. / Expected costs are shown, and if the costs are not more that the amount that has been agreed.
Every thing in the plan is legal!
7.How will you receive and manage your Personal Budget?
How will you put your plan into action? / You can have your Personal Budget as money paid straight to you or to someone you trust to manage the money on your behalf, such as a family member or Independent Living Norfolk or a Service Provider
You can ask your care manager/co-ordinator to buy a service on your behalf.
You can have a combination of all of the above.
You need to make it clear what you will arrange yourself and what you will ask other people to do on your behalf. / The plan makes it clear who is responsible for organising each area of expenditure.
If you are going to employ people it must say how you are going to sort out their wages, Tax and National Insurance e.g. do it yourself or ask ILN to help.
How the money is to be paid: ie monthly instalments (eg staff costs), quarterly, lump sums (for one off spends etc) / It shows who is responsible for when and how you need your money to be paid.
There is a summary support plan.
Your plan must tell us where to send the money, how much and when!
8. How will you review your plan? / How often you want to do this and who should be involved in this?
How will you decide how much progress you have made towards the goals/outcomes you are hoping to achieve? / Your plan can be reviewed as often as needed.
There should be a first review within 3 months.
You will need a review after 10 months to make plans for the next year. You may then need to do a questionnaire again to see if your needs have changed. / It is specific about what you want to happen and how you will make any changes to the plan over the year.

Keeping Yourself Safe

Life is full of risks. We all understand this.

Your support plan is about how this is managed. You will need to work out what could go wrong and what can be done about it. You and your care manager/co-ordinatorto will need to agree a level of risk that is acceptable to both of you.

Some things to think about:

  • Who would you speak to if you were being abused in any way?
  • Could any planned activities perhaps result in an increased risk for you?
  • Are you sure that you will be able to spend your Personal Budget as agreed in the support plan?
  • Are there any signs to show you or other people that things might be going wrong?
  • Who will you contact if you are worried that things might be going wrong?
  • Does the support plan include employing anyone? Have you had advice from Independent Living Norfolk?
  • What if the unexpected happens, for example your personal assistant or main carer becomes ill?
  • How much money do you feel comfortable managing in one go?

Have you had a copy of the leaflet ‘Protecting Vulnerable Adults’?

What could go wrong? / What can be done about it?
What could go wrong? / What can be done about it

Personal Budget Recipient:Dated:______

Care Manager/Co-ordinator Dated: ______

How will you put your plan into action?

The last partof your support planshould draw together all the things that need to be done, who will do them and when they will be done. This will help make sure things happen as they should. Whatever you decide, we will need to know what arrangements you want to make to receive your money. This can be regular payments or one off payments or a combination.

Suggested things to also think about:

  • Do you need to open up a separate bank account?
  • Do you need help to buy goods or arrange a service?
  • Have you taken into account any oncosts if you are employing someone

What needs to happen? / Who will do it? / When/how often?

SUMMARY SUPPORT PLAN

Please complete this form for our records

Personal Budget Allocated:

Item / Estimated cost / Who will receive the payments (yourself, agent, Trust, ILN provider)? / How often? (monthly, quarterly, one off-date needed if known)
Personal Assistant Support:
Social and Educational Activities:
Short Breaks:
Longer term registered care:
Supported Living:
One off purchases (over £50):
Transport:
Miscellaneous:
Contingency:

Review Date: ______

Authorisation (budget holder) Name:______

Signature: ______

Date: ______

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