Transforming Social Care through Direct Payments

East Midlands Region event 22nd Feb 2012

Combined feedback from workshops 1 and 2

Developing a strategy for making DPs the default delivery mechanism for Adult Social Care and Supporting people to use Direct Payments.

1. What has worked well?

  • Rutland County Council provides an in house direct payment support service, providing both support and advice. Disability Direct provide managed bank accounts. There is a PA Network which meet up on a regular basis, this has proved to be useful and supports PA’s who work in isolation – strict terms of reference to assure confidentiality.
  • Support Plans
  • Leicester City “Values” project supporting people to participate in similar activities of their choice. This is often via their own website “Choose My Support” and through activity menu sent to commissioners
  • Developing information networks – both local and face to face & national e-forum
  • DPULO examples
  • Derby City and Derbyshire DPULOs – payroll support & direct payments support
  • Range of choice in Nottinghamshire for DP Users
  • Learning lessons from the past
  • Transparency of cost of DPs
  • Funding through RAS/Personal budget)
  • Choice of support services
  • Risk Enablement (Support & Risk Matrix) Derbyshire CC
  • Partnership working with voluntary organisations
  • Monitoring the list of support providers (approved)
  • For organisations managing the money – you have to be an approved provider
  • Process of approving providers (Nottinghamshire CC) – this is not the only option
  • More choice and control with no block contracts
  • Voting with feet
  • Service users decision
  • Strong partnerships between DPULO and Council
  • Training
  • Established relationships and co-producing

2. What are the challenges?

  • What happens when there is a surplus in the account?
  • Real choice and control e.g. employment, insurance, providers
  • Developing the market
  • Transition
  • Concerns about funding
  • Loss of contract
  • Concerns about whether funding is in the Personal Budget to pay for the direct payment support organisation, or whether this should be ringfenced
  • Making better use of personal budgets by more creative support planning
  • Still lack of awareness/knowledge amongst staff
  • Running pilot projects at the right time – e.g independent support brokerage
  • Streamlining the process
  • Mindsets of service users and adult social care staff
  • Conflicting advice from providers
  • Generational – people are set in their ways
  • Cultural change for staff and service users
  • Monitoring organisations – how do you know if they are giving good advice?
  • Abuse of DPs
  • Small alternative market place
  • Understanding roles and responsibilities

3. What support would be most helpful?

  • Explicit inclusion within individual budget to reflect cost transparency.
  • Making the complex “simple”
  • Information streams
  • Creative thinking and sharing ideas
  • Guidance from government
  • More resources to enable reviews and meet demand and embed DPs.