Ceredigion County Council

What are Direct Payments?

Once you have been assessed as eligible to receive community care services from Social Care, we can either arrange services for you or you can choose to receive sums of money to either partly or fully arrange the services yourself. This is known as a Direct Payment and will give you more flexibility, control and choice in the care that you receive therefore allowing you to live as independently as possible.

Direct Payments can be used for short or long term needs but only to meet wellbeing outcomes as identified in an individual’s care and support plan.

If you think that Direct Payments may be suitable for some of your care needs but not for others, you can have a mixture of Direct Payments and some services arranged by us.

Direct Payments are not a Department of Works and Pension benefit and will not affect your rights to such benefits nor are they classed as income for tax purposes.

Who can receive Direct Payments?

 Direct Payments can be offered to almost anyone who has been assessed as eligible to receive community care services. Once you have been assessed as requiring community care services, the assessor has a duty to offer you a Direct Payment.

Direct Payments may also be paid to another suitable person who may act on behalf of the individual requiring care including adults with parental responsibility for a child with disabilities.

What can I use the Direct Payments for?

You can only use the money you are given to buy the services that you have been assessed as needing and are detailed in your Care and Support Plan, for example:

• To employ someone directly to help you with your care (a Personal Assistant)
• To buy care from a private registered care agency
• To make your own arrangements instead of using Social Care day care or respite care
• To purchase equipment

What can they not be used for?

Direct Payments cannot be used to purchase care, support and assistance that have not been identified in the individual care and support plan neither can they be used for:

• purchasing any Local Authority services, as Local Authorities are not permitted to sell their services in this way
• Meeting health care needs. This will also include services provided under Continuing Health Care Funding (CHC Funding)
• Housing services

What is involved in managing Direct Payments?

If you decide to have Direct Payments, you will be responsible for:

• Using the money only to pay for the help that we have agreed you need
• Keeping records to show that the money has been spent in the right way
• If you choose to employ someone as a Personal Assistant, you will have all the usual responsibilities of an employer. However there is help and support with this

How much money will I receive?

The amount of money that you will get will depend on how much and what type of assistance you need. Your Care and Support Plan will state how much support you need each week and the amount you will be paid is detailed in Appendix 1 which is sent out with the Direct Payment Agreement.

Will I have to contribute to the cost?

You may be asked to pay part of the cost towards your care. This will depend on the type of care you have been assessed as needing and may also depend on your income and savings. If you do have to pay, this will be the same amount, whether you have Direct Payments or choose to have services arranged by us.

Your assessor will be able to request a financial assessment for you to see what cost (if any), you have to pay towards your care.

Will I be supported to manage my Direct Payments?

From 1st April 2021, Ceredigion County Council will have an in house team called Direct Payment Support Service who will provide anyone who decides to apply for Direct Payments with free help and support. The professionally trained staff will provide you with information, support as well as practical help with recruiting and employing staff, paying wages and helping with tax and National Insurance payments.

You may also receive help from family and friends.

If you choose to employ a personal assistant, the Care Council has developed an online toolkit which provides guidance, practice examples and practical tools. This will enable you to support your personal assistant to gain the skills they need to be confident and competent in their roles.

You can access the toolkit by visiting www.paemployertoolkit.wales

What if my needs change?

If your needs change, you will need to be reassessed to see if your Direct Payments also need to change.

Alternatively if you find that you no longer wish to have Direct Payments you can ask for your services to be arranged by Social Care instead.

How can I apply?

If you are currently in the process of having your needs assessed by Social Care ask the assessor about Direct Payments otherwise you will need to contact Porth Gofal to request an assessment of your needs. They can be contacted as follows:

01545 574000
contact-socservs@ceredigion.gov.uk

Emergencies

If you need urgent help outside the opening times of Porth Gofal, please contact our Out of Hours Emergency Team on: 0300 4563554

Other leaflets detailing the different services offered by Ceredigion Social Care is available on request from Porth Gofal. For further information, please telephone: 01545 574000

DBS / Safe Recruitment – Direct Payments

In line with our duty to ensure the safety and protection of vulnerable groups who receive a service from the Council and within the wider community the Council has a duty to ensure the suitability of everyone it employs and facilitates in whatever capacity. This DBS/Safe Recruitment Policy sets out the processes and standards the Council has approved to ensure that this duty is upheld.

The Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) is a national organisation that searches police records and, in relevant cases, barred list information, in order to assess whether applicants can safely and appropriately be employed.

Ceredigion Council and the Direct Payment Support Service, will fully comply with the DBS Code of Practice regarding the correct handling, use, storage; retention and disposal of DBS certificates and certificate information.

Different types of DBS checks

DBS offer different types of check issued under the Police Act 1997. The role of a Direct Payment Personal Assistant (to include family members) has been identified as a role that requires an Enhanced Barred DBS check.

Additionally, all Suitable Persons require an Enhanced Barred DBS check in accordance with the Care & Support (Direct Payments) (Wales) Regulations 2015.

Ceredigion County Council will meet the cost of your DBS check and will administrate the DBS check via Powys Council’s online system.

Our obligations

We must ensure that we are legally entitled to ask an individual to make an application for a Disclosure.

To be eligible for an Enhanced Barred DBS check, the position must be included in both the Rehabilitation of Offenders (ROA) Exceptions Order and in the Police Act Regulations.

It is a criminal offence for a barred person to work, or volunteer, in regulated activity and it is a criminal offence for an employer to knowingly employ (either on a paid or voluntary basis) a barred person in regulated activity.

The Direct Payment Support Service will assist in ensuring all such checks are conducted in compliance with the DBS Policy.

How DBS checks are processed

DBS checks conducted by Ceredigion Council on behalf of Direct Payment Service Users are undertaken through Powys County Council’s E-bulk facility which is administered by Powys County Council’s DBS Unit.

The online E-Bulk facility enables the applicant to complete the DBS application form electronically and send the completed form online direct to the DBS.

Powys County Council are a Registered Body with the National DBS enabling them to process in the region of 22,000 DBS applications per annum for their own employees and external organisations registered to use their service, including Ceredigion Council.

Further information as to the Privacy policy for Enhanced Disclosure applicants can be found on the Powys CC website.

Further information about the E-bulk system

E Bulk is a secure, fully encrypted and auditable online system with automation validation of data entered.

The E bulk system is a significantly faster method than the traditional paper application method, with 90% of Standard DBS checks returned within 24 hours and 90% of Enhanced DBS checks returned within 4 days, in contrast to the paper applications which can take up to 6 – 8 weeks.

As a result of the significantly improved speed in processing checks, delays in the recruitment process are minimised with employees able to commence employment without unnecessary delay.

The system enables applicants to track their application for standard and enhanced checks and will send automated messages from the E Bulk system to managers when their staff have not completed their online application form, and to applicants for non- completion of forms

How will an applicant know if a DBS check is needed and why?

Job descriptions provide sufficient information as to the duties and tasks which constitute “regulated” activity and which therefore necessitates a check.

If the post is one which requires the check to be renewed on a regular basis, this will be explicitly stated in the job description and advertisement.

With effect from the 1^st March 2022, it may be possible for an individual who has already been subject to an Enhanced DBS check for their duties as a Personal Assistant who then applies for an additional Personal Assistant role to ‘transfer’ the DBS check to their new or additional role.

However, the Personal Assistant may be required to undergo a further DBS check depending on the following factors:

• If their new role encompasses significant additional responsibilities,
• If the workforce with whom they are working in their new role alters from that of their previous check.
• If the nature of the duties is notably different from previous duties.

It is possible for Personal Assistants to register on the ‘PA Register’ at the point of application for a Personal Assistant role. Applicants can register to work for Adult workforce, Child workforce or both Adult & Child workforce. This will then determine which workforce the DBS check is undertaken for and will in turn be applicable for ‘transfer’ to additional PA roles.

What kind of DBS check is required?

Where a post requires that an individual engages in a regulated activity with either children or vulnerable adults on a regular basis the requirement for a Standard or Enhanced check will need to be determined. CCC have determined that as the role of a PA would generally involve regulated activity, all PA roles require an Enhanced Barred DBS check.

What is Regulated Activity?

The full legal definition of regulated activity is set out in Schedule 4 of the Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006, as amended by the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012. Regulated activity excludes family arrangements, and personal, non-commercial arrangements.

However, personal, non-commercial relationships are arrangements where either no money changes hands, or any money that does change hands is not part of a commercial relationship (for example, gifting a friend money for petrol after they have driven you to the hospital), and the arrangement is made between friends or family friends.

If the PA receives payment in return for services, that takes the relationship outside the course of family relationships/personal non-commercial relationships and makes it a commercial one even if the PA is related to the Direct Payment Recipient.

What kind of documentation is needed to complete a check

You will be required to provide three items of documentation to verify their personal identity in accordance with the list published by the Disclosure and Barring Service which may be found here

Adverse disclosures and how they are dealt with

In the event that an adverse response is received from the DBS service on behalf of an employee following a check, the HR department will contact the Team Leader & PA Coordinator within the Direct Payments Support Service who will be required to arrange to meet with the Personal Assistant Applicant to discuss the adverse disclosure to determine whether applicant's appointment progresses or is withdrawn.

The Team Leader & PA Coordinator will be required to view the DBS certificate issued to the applicant and complete an ‘Adverse DBS Form’.

In making safe employment decisions, the Team Leader & PA Coordinator will discuss with the Social Care Team in order to make objective assessments and to adopt an open mind and focus on merit and ability to do the job.

Consideration should be given to the relevance of the age of convictions or cautions and the circumstances, dates, the nature and relevance of the offence, the frequency/patterns and the potential risks involved in employing the individual and, whether these could be sensibly and effectively managed.

The Team Leader & PA Coordinator will discuss the Adverse DBS with the Employers’ Liability Insurance (ELI) Company to ensure that any decision to appoint would not affect the ELI cover. The Team Leader & PA Coordinator will then refer to the relevant Social Care Team Corporate Manager and the Corporate Manager for Targeted and Short Term Services and a suitability decision on whether to appoint the applicant must be made.

Any decisions should be proportionate and relevant to more serious convictions/caution and whether spent or unspent when working with vulnerable groups of children and/or adults, the decision must be recorded on the ‘Adverse DBS Form’.

The completed ‘Adverse DBS Form’ will then need to be authorised by both the relevant Social Care Team Corporate Manager and the Corporate Manager for Targeted and Short Term Services.

All decisions made will be recorded and if an offer is withdrawn, this will be confirmed to the PA Applicant by the Team Leader & PA Coordinator.

DBS Renewals

The frequency of DBS checks for some roles are be governed by statute and specific registration requirements.

Personal Assistants are required to renew their DBS check every 3 years this requirement will be made explicit in the employee’s Job description.

The DBS renewal process is as follows:

• Step 1 - You will receive a DBS renewal email request which in most circumstances will provide you will a link to our online DBS system in order that you can complete an online application form.
• Step 2 - Complete and submit an online application. Send relevant identity documents to human resources (link to ID Docs).
• Step 3 - Once your DBS application form has been processed by the Disclosure Barring Service you will receive a new certificate from the DBS. Please ensure that this information is retained securely.

Disclosure and Barring Scheme Requirements for Direct Payments in Ceredigion

Advocacy services can help in situations where you may not feel able to deal with everything on your own. Advocates are independent and non-judgemental. Advocates can be a neighbour, relative, friend or someone from a voluntary organisation – anyone that will help you to speak out and have your views and wishes taken into account.

There are Advocacy services available and where possible we may arrange for someone to help you put your point across in your dealings with us if you are not able to do this yourself and do not have family or friends to help you.

Citizen’s Advice Bureau

Citizen’s Advice Bureau can provide advice on a range of issues and in some circumstances can offer advocacy support. Contact the Citizen’s Advice Bureau on 01239 621974 or the Adviceline: 03444 772020

www.cabceredigion.org

People First

People First offers an Advocacy Service for people who have a Learning Disability: 01970 625656

Advocacy West Wales

Advocacy West Wales provides an Independent Mental Health Act Advocacy Service (IMHA) for both people in the community and for informal patients at Morlais Ward, Glangwilli Hospital, Carmarthen. Telephone: 01437 762935

www.advocacywestwales.org.uk or admin@advocacywestwales.org.uk

Tros Gynnal

Tros Gynnal provide advocacy services for children and young people to make sure that they have their rights respected and have their voices heard

YOUNG PEOPLE’S FREEPHONE: 0808 168 2599 or TEXT: 07788 408562

SNAP Cymru

SNAP Cymru also provide an independent advocacy service “ABOUT ME”. They are able to provide information, advice, advocacy, representation and support to children and young people with Additional Learning Needs, including Specialist Educational Needs and disability.

www.snapcymru.org

0845 1203730 (Support Line) or email aboutme@snapcymru.org