HAMPSHIRE DIRECT PAYMENTS SCHEME
CHILDREN’S SERVICES (SOCIAL CARE)
DATE: / 2015
EFFECTIVE DATE: / June 2015
CATEGORY: / DISABLED CHILDREN AND YOUNG PEOPLE
KEYWORDS: / DIRECT PAYMENTS
ISSUED BY: / Steve Crocker, Deputy Director, Children’s Services Department
CONTACT: / Kieran Lyons, Integrated Disability Services Manager
PROCEDURES CANCELLED OR AMENDED: / This procedure amends Hampshire Direct Payments Scheme Procedure 02/14 (2014)
REMARKS: / None
SIGNED:
DESIGNATION: / Deputy Director, Children’s Services Department
YOU SHOULD ENSURE THAT:-
§ You read, understand and, where appropriate, act on this information
§ All people in your workplace who need to know see this procedure
§ This document is available in a place to which all staff members in your workplace have access
PURPOSE
To provide information for the operation of the Hampshire Children’s Services Direct Payments Scheme and direct staff to other key documents which support good practice.
SCOPE
This procedure outlines the legislative framework, departmental financial and care management arrangements for operating the Hampshire Children’s Services Direct Payments Scheme.
POLICY
To enable disabled children and their families to have greater choice and control over services to meet their assessed needs and achieve outcomes identified in the child’s plan. To enable them to live independently by ensuring they receive information about their entitlement to Direct Payments. To enable informed choice, and advice and information to support their use of Direct Payments as appropriate.
REFERENCES TO LEGAL, CENTRAL GOVERNMENT AND OTHER EXTERNAL DOCUMENTS, INCLUDING RESEARCH
· Carers and Disabled Children Act 2000
· Community Care (Direct Payments) Act 1996 Policy and Practice Guidance (DOH), revised February 2000.
· The Carers (Services) and Direct Payments (Amendment) (England) Regulations 2001
· Statutory Instrument 2001 No. 442 The Disabled Children (Direct Payments) (England) Regulations 2001
· The Community Care, Services for Carers and Children’s Services (Direct Payments) (England) Regulations 2003
· Mental Capacity Act 2005
· Children and Families Act 2014
· Guidance on direct payments for community care, services for carers and children's services: England Department of Health 2009 http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20130107105354/http://www.dh.gov.uk/en/Publicationsandstatistics/Publications/PublicationsPolicyAndGuidance/DH_104840
· Getting direct payments to buy social care for your disabled child: Information for families (England and Wales) – Contact a Family, September 2014 www.cafamily.org.uk/media/379527/direct_payments_ew_3_september_2014_kb.pdf
HAMPSHIRE COUNTY COUNCIL REFERENCES
· Hampshire Direct Payments website (Adult Services) www.hants.gov.uk/direct-payments.htm
· Direct Payments - setting up details in SAP and Swift
· intranet.hants.gov.uk/childrenssocialcare-childrenwithdisabilities/childrens-services-socialcarepolicies-mca.htm
DEFINITIONS
DEFINITIONS - Glossary of TermsAgent / A person who with the expressed wish of the disabled young person or their parent/carer acts on their behalf.
Assessment / This can refer to the Framework for Assessment of Children in Need and their Families or the Carer’s Assessment as relevant to the needs of the user.
Best Interests Assessment / An assessment to determine and evidence decisions regarding a person’s social welfare which the person has been deemed as being unable to make themselves.
Care Plan / The plan developed by the young person, the parent/carer and the practitioner which sets out how the Direct Payments will be used to meet the agreed needs
Direct Payments / Cash payments made by a local authority to an individual in lieu of providing all or some community care services they have been assessed as needing.
Direct Payments Guidance / Department of Health Direct Payments Guidance 2009
The Carers and Disabled Children Act 2000
Direct payment Lead / The Integrated Disability Services Manager
Direct Payment Support Worker / An individual who will support families, through the Direct Payment Support Worker Service.
Direct Payments Support Worker Service / A service, commissioned by the Local Authority through the voluntary sector which provides advice, support and information about Direct Payments.
Direct or Provided Services / Services which are arranged and purchased / provided by the Department and which are not direct payments
Managed Account / An account held by an independent organisation who receives and spends a persons Direct Payments as per the Care Plan.
Mental Capacity Assessment (MCA) / The assessment used to determine if a person has the capacity to make a particular decision.
Operational Finance / Strategic finance advice and support for Children’s Services
Payments team / The finance payments team who pay the money to Direct Payments users
Parent/Carer / The person with parental responsibility for the young person.
P.A. / Personal Assistant – a person employed directly by the Direct Payment recipient as a support worker using Direct Payments
Personal Budget (see also Personal Health Budget and SEN Direct Payment) / A Personal Budget is an amount of money identified to deliver a service where the parent or young person has a say in how the service is provided. The scope of a personal budget will vary depending on individual circumstances and is different for each agency (Education, Health and Social Care).
Personal Health Budget / A Personal Budget is an amount of money identified to deliver a service where the parent or young person has a say in how the service is provided. Personal Health Budgets (PHB) can be requested for some children and young people from October 2014.
Practitioner / An allocated statutory worker from Children’s Services.
SEN Direct Payment / A personal budget is an amount of money identified to deliver parts of the provision set out in the special educational provision section of the EHCP. A personal budget in the form of an SEN direct payment (where cash payments are made to the child’s parents or the young person) can be provided for a child or young person with an EHCP if certain conditions are satisfied. These payments/budget are processed by the SEN teams who can be contacted for further information.
Standard Practice and Procedures / This refers to assessments and any other processes following Departmental procedures, as relevant to the situation and needs of the user.
Suitable Person / A person who is deemed appropriate to receive Direct Payments for a service user who lacks the capacity to consent to receive them themselves.
Third Party / A person nominated by a service user receiving Direct Payments who assists with the on-going management of the funds.
Young Person / The child or young person who has been assessed as needing social care services.
Young Carers / For the purposes of this procedure, young carers aged 16 or 17 years who provide a substantial amount of care on a regular basis to another person.
ROLES
Children’s Services Staff will promote Direct Payments and provide people with information or signpost to sources of support. They will make sure up to date information about Direct Payments is available on Hampshire’s Local Offer.
Social Workers will undertake the assessments, offer Direct Payments and record decisions. If there are concerns regarding mental capacity and ability to decide to have Direct Payments or manage them they will undertake a Mental Capacity Assessment. They will ensure the financial/system processes for triggering Direct Payments to start, change and end are followed. They will also monitor and review the use of Direct Payments to ensure agreed outcomes are being met. If required they will take action to address issues. Following discussion with Team Managers, and the Direct Payments Support Service where required, they will withdraw Direct Payments if a user is not meeting the Direct Payments agreement requirements.
Contact Centre Staff will take referrals for assessments, send out information and tell people about Direct Payments.
Integrated Business Centre (IBC) Payments team will start and end Direct Payments when a social worker informs them to do so, using the required form/s. They will pay Direct Payments to nominated bank accounts and liaise with Direct Payments users and social workers, as and when required.
Operational Finance team will provide support and advice on updates as required to this procedure. They will assist and advise Social workers if more detailed financial advice is needed about an individual Direct Payment user’s situation
Direct Payments Support Service (an external voluntary organisation) will accept referrals and provide support, advice and information about Direct Payments to Direct Payments users.
AUTHORITY TO VARY THE PROCEDURE
The Deputy Director, Children’s Services
PROCEDURE
CONTENTS Page No.
1. Introduction 7
2. Summary of the Hampshire Direct Payments Scheme 7
3. Support and Information for Direct Payments Users 8
4. Referral, Assessment and Eligibility Criteria 10
5. How can Direct Payments be used? 10
6. Implementing The Care Plan / Direct Payments Agreement 11
7. One Off Direct Payments 13
8. Transition from age 16 years and Mental Capacity 13
9. Disclosure and Barring Scheme 14
10. Financial Arrangements 16
11. Changes to Direct Payments 17
12. Record Keeping and reviews 19
13. Health and Safety 20
14. Carer’s Assessments / Direct Payments to Carers 21
15. Complaints Procedure 21
16. Equality Impact Assessment 21
17. Performance Standards 21
Appendices/ Forms 23
Step-by-Step / flowchart 24
1. INTRODUCTION
1.1 Direct Payments allow individuals greater choice and control over how their needs are addressed, including the nature and timing of care and who provides it. The Carers and Disabled Children Act 2000 and associated guidance provided the legislation to enable local authorities to make Direct Payments available to parents of disabled children, to disabled young people aged 16+ in their own right and to young carers aged 16+ in exceptional circumstances. It is not the Government's, or this authority's, intention that young people in this age group should provide a substantial caring role for parents or siblings.
1.2 The aim of this document is to guide Hampshire Children’s Services Staff and other individuals or agencies carrying out work on the Department's behalf on the operation of the HCC Children’s Services Direct Payments Scheme.
1.3 This guide is supplementary to standard practice guidance, not a replacement. Direct Payments are simply one way of implementing services to support children/young people’s care needs and are therefore part of standard practice and finance processes.
1.4 This procedure is not intended to cover every eventuality. Where further clarification is required social workers should first seek advice from their manager, who will contact the relevant Service Manager if required.
2. SUMMARY OF THE HAMPSHIRE DIRECT PAYMENTS SCHEME
2.1 The Department is committed to making Direct Payments available to all families with disabled children who meet the departmental criteria for specialist social care services, and who meet the Government’s eligibility criteria for Direct Payments. Direct Payments are available to people aged 16 or over to meet their own needs, parents to meet the needs of their children up to the age of 18, and carers aged 16 or over to meet their own needs as carers.
2.2 Direct Payments are not like benefits paid by the Department for Work and Pensions (for example Child Benefit) which may be spent freely. Direct Payments must be spent on meeting a child/young person’s eligible social care needs and achieving the outcomes stated in the child’s plan, as assessed by the Department and records need to be kept by the person to demonstrate this.
2.3 Direct Payments can be given to meet all of a child/young person’s eligible assessed social care needs (except for ongoing residential care or in-house services). They may also form part of a care plan where other services are arranged and purchased / provided by the Department. People may have a mixture of Direct Payments and other services e.g. a person may receive Direct Payments to purchase a support worker coming to their home but they may also receive overnight short breaks in an in-house service.
2.4 Providing families with Direct Payments will in many cases enable them to find innovative and creative ways of addressing their needs. Some families will opt to have a Personal Budget, and have part or this entire budget paid as a Direct Payment under this procedure. (A separate procedure describes the process for delivering Personal Budgets in social care). Personal health budgets and / or a Direct Payment for Special Educational needs can also be requested by families with disabled children but are outside the scope of this procedure (please also see section 6.7 regarding notification for Education Health and Care Plans).
2.5 Direct Payments can be a regular amount of money paid to the recipient, or a one-off payment, or both, according to the individual situation. (For example if there is a temporary reason why the ongoing Direct Payments are insufficient, or a one-off item is being purchased, a one-off payment may be appropriate.) A one off payment may be used at the beginning of Direct Payments to pay insurance costs (see section 3.9).
2.6 Using Direct Payments is a choice for families. Social workers must provide information to families at the point of assessment and care planning, and have a duty to ensure that users are provided with the appropriate amount of funding to meet all of the costs of the agreed package. Recipients must consent to receiving Direct Payments and, together with any Agent they have to assist them to manage, be able to take on the responsibility of arranging their own services and keeping records to show they have used the money to address the eligible assessed needs.
2.7 For ongoing Direct Payments recipients must set up a bank account (separate from any other bank or savings account they may hold) from which to manage income and expenditure connected with their Direct Payments (see section 10.1).
2.8 It is the responsibility of the Direct Payment recipient to ensure any employed staff are employed and paid in line with the law. It is the department’s responsibility to make sure that Direct Payment recipients are set up with adequate amounts of funding and adequate support to enable them to fulfil their responsibilities to employed staff (2009 Guidance).
3. SUPPORT AND INFORMATION FOR DIRECT PAYMENTS USERS
3.1 Information about Hampshire’s Direct Payments scheme for families with disabled children will be part of the Local Offer in Hampshire. The Direct Payments Support Service will also offer a range of more detailed information resources and templates relating to recruitment, employment, record-keeping etc. that will be available to Direct Payments users/potential users.
3.2 Direct Payments recipients must be provided with the appropriate amount of funding to meet all of the costs they are required to pay as part of the agreed package. They are also entitled to advice and support to effectively use the funds provided to them. It is the local authority’s statutory duty to provide this. Social workers need to ensure they have discussed fully with the family what information and support they will require to use Direct Payments and a referral to the Direct Payments Support Service will usually be appropriate.