Social care covers a wide range of care and support.
Support can include helping someone to get up and get dressed, develop friendships and relationships, do meaningful activities, and be part of their community.
Children and young adults are entitled to get social care support. This ranges from a few hours of support a week for some people to round-the-clock care for others.
The Knightly Trust has lots of ways to assist individuals in social care system.
What are direct payments?
“Direct payments” are cash payments given directly to the person who needs care and support (or their family if the person lacks the capacity to manage their money themselves) so that they can choose what services to buy and organise their own support. This is an alternative to services being provided directly by the local authority or by another organisation like a charity.
You have a right to request a direct payment to buy the support or services set out in your care and support plan. And the council must say yes to this in most circumstances.
The idea is that disabled people and their families will have more choice and control over their own care and support by using direct payments.
You can use direct payments to pay for the services we offer.
What is a care and support plan?
A care and support plan is a detailed document setting out what services will be provided, how they will meet your needs, when they will be provided, and who will provide them.
You are entitled to see a copy of your care and support plan and the local authority should make sure that you are happy with it before it is finalised.
Your plan should be reviewed regularly by the local authority once it is in place, at least once a year or more often if necessary. Your plan should always be reviewed if your circumstances change.
At the bottom of the care and support plan there must be a sum of money, called a “personal budget”.
What is a personal budget?
Adults with eligible needs can be given a personal budget by the local authority. The amount you get must be enough to meet ‘eligible’ needs and pay for all the services set out in your care and support plan.
The personal budget can be given to you in different ways:
By services being provided directly by the local authority.