Direct Payment Scheme
Who can get direct payments?
If you already get help from social services then you can most likely get direct payments. As a guide, if you are...
Disabled and aged 16 or over
A carer aged 16 or over, including people with parental responsibility for a disabled child
An older person
...you could get direct payments. Your local council will carry out an assessment to decide whether you are eligible for care. Each council sets its own criteria deciding who can get care.
If your council has decided that you cannot get social services, then they will not offer you a direct payment.
Telopea MSL can still help you organise the care you need.
Regain control of your life with Telopea MSL
Direct payments allow you to organise your own care. Instead of your local council providing your care, you can take control of what care you have, when, and who you get it from. The money can be used for a whole range of things as long as it meets your ‘social care needs’.
You can decide: What care you buy, Who provides it, When you get it.
What can direct payments be used for?
The money has to pay for services that meet your ‘social care need’ – the needs assessed by and agreed with your social worker. Direct payments cannot be used as extra income. You can pay for:
An agency to provide care
A personal assistant
Day or respite care
Pieces of equipment
You can top up direct payments with your own money if you want to. Direct payments should not be used to pay for care from your family. They cannot be used to pay for residential or nursing home care.
Do you know what care you want?
At Telopea MSL we can help you decide what personal care you want to buy with your direct payment. This is called ‘care brokerage’. Once you have decided what to spend your direct payment on, we can organise this for you.
Examples of what you might want are:
Help getting up in the morning
Someone to go shopping with
Employ a personal assistant
A special piece of equipment
Red Tape
If you receive direct payments, the money must be kept in a separate bank account. If you take on a personal assistant, you will have to become an employer. As it is taxpayers’ money you need to account for how it is spent.
At Telopea MSL we can take care of the ‘red tape’ for you. We can help you select people to care for you, we can manage the contract and payroll and we can complete the returns for your council.
Telopea can help - If this all sounds a bit daunting, we are here to help, you can contact us for an informal discussion.
Telopea can help you manage your personal budget or direct payment. We are an independent company, not tied to one particular supplier.
Organising your personal care
Using your direct payment, Telopea can help you recruit carers or personal assistants, organise a care agency, cleaners or whatever you want.
If you want a personal assistant, we will work with you to select the person you want to work for you. We can check them out, organise insurance, a contract of employment and payroll.
We will also offer them ongoing training and support.
Managing the money
You have to keep your direct payment money separate from your own bank account. Telopea has an independent account for the management of direct payments.
Your money is safe; it is completely independent of the company and at no risk, but you do not have to set up a new bank account just for the direct payment.
You can also top up the direct payment if you want more care than the direct payment will stretch to.
Knowing what you are buying
All Telopea providers are put through an ongoing quality assurance programme, testing the registrations in place to practice, the necessary insurances, that the provider meets quality standards, that staff are qualified and trained and that the provider is financially viable.
If you would like to know more about the range of services that Telopea MSL have to offer please call Brenda on 01234 248969. Alternatively please click here to complete our short contact form.