Self Directed Support

Social Care
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Self Directed Support

There is a national programme to make social care services more personalised so you and the person you care for can have more control over when and who helps you. This is call Self Directed Support.

The assessment which are carried out are vitally important in Self Directed Support so make sure you you don't gloss over those things you find difficult in your caring role. It is important that you give a true and accurate picture of your life and for the person you care for to do the same.

Once the assessments have been done and social services has confirmed that you are are eligible for service. You will be told how much is to be allocated to you for the services you and the person you care for needs to support both of you. This is called the indicative budget. When you know how much the budget is you will need to draw up a support plan to describe what you are going to use the money for.to support you and the person you care for. You have the freedom to spend the money on things that will make a difference. When you have finished drawing up the support plan you will need agreement from the social care team. They will check your support plan meets the needs documented in the assessments.

Once the support plan has been agreed you can do one of three things:

You may have a Direct Payment for the full amount of the indicative budget which means the council pays you direct so you can buy and arrange the services detailed in the assessment
You may have a Direct Payment for some of the money within the indicative budget so you can buy and arrange some of the services and the council will organise some.
You can ask the council to arrange all the services for you

Reviewing and on going support

A person from social services will meet with you from time to time to review the support plan. The first review will take place within three months. After that it will be on a yearly basis. However you may ask for a review at any time

last Updated June 2011