Funding & Support

Self-Directed Support: Your Life, Your Way

At the Independence Project, we believe you should be in charge of your own life. That’s why we fully support Self-Directed Support (SDS) – an approach that gives you more choice, control, and freedom in how your care and support is planned. You may have heard this also being referred to as Personalistion or Personal Budgets.

What is Self-Directed Support?

Self-Directed Support is all about putting you at the centre of your support. Instead of being told what services you can have, you decide:

• • What’s important to you
  • What kind of support fits your life

  • Who provides it, when, and how

It’s not about fitting into the system – it’s about shaping support around your life. We will always advocate for this!

How It Works

To receive a personal budget or personal health budget, you need to:

• • Have had a care needs assessment carried out by a social worker or a Continuing Healthcare Assessment will be undertaken by a Healthcare professional to see if you are eligible for NHS funding.

• • Be eligible for support under the Care Act

• • A Continuing Healthcare Assessment will be undertaken by a Healthcare professional to see if you are eligible for NHS funding. If you do not meet this criteria then social care may be able to support your needs

• • Have a financial assessment to determine if the council will fund your care (either in full or partly)

Other things to note is that if a loved one cares for you regularly then they might be entitled to a Carers Needs Assesment They could be supported with practical help in the home or support for their mental and physical wellbeing. In practical terms this could be that they are awarded additional funding that gives them respite from their caring duties.

After the assessment you will be told what support is required to meet your needs and an amount of money will be funded. This is your personal budget.

Self-Directed Support gives you real options. Once a social worker or healthcare professional agrees that you need support after an assessment, you can choose how your Personal Budget is managed from the following options:

1. Direct Payment

You receive the money directly and arrange your own support. We always encourage people to take this option, as it truly provides individuals with the most control over your care. However it does come with lots of responsibilities like becoming an employer if you use Personal Assistants and arranging Payroll or sourcing services to meet your needs.

Many of our members who choose this option have family that support them with this. You or someone close to you becomes responsible for managing the pot of money and also agrees to only spend the money in the way outlined in your care plan which is drafted by your social worker or Continuing Healthcare (CHC) Nurse within the NHS. Some questions to think about are “What happens if those family members are no longer able to support their loved ones?” Penderells Trust or Purple can help support you with additional services.

2. Individual Service Fund (ISF) or Third Party Budget (TPB)

Independence Project is one of the leading ISF providers within Essex. We are incredibly proud to say that we were the first Day Centre in the country to offer this service. We hold your budget at the Independence Project and are ultimately responsible for overseeing the fund, but you stay in control of how it’s used. It is a three way agreement between the individual, local authority and the ISF provider. This gives you flexibility without the stress of managing the money yourself.

We have become adept at managing your funds. We are well connected in your community and are often able to source much of the support you require. We have a growing work force that can support both in the Base and the Hive but also the potential to act as Support Workers in other settings.