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Support services

Buying your own support services

Providers of support services

Social Services, Adult Social Care provides support services when your care plan shows you need them. Instead of providing the services, Social Services may be able to give you the money for you to buy what you want, to meet your needs.

Ask your Community Team for people with learning disabilities for a list of people who provide support.

Buying your own services

You might do this using Direct Payments or Independent Living Funds| . Speak to people in the Community Teams and they will help and advise you.

Direct Payments

At the moment the services shown on your care plan are arranged for you. Instead of doing this, we may be able to give you the money to buy the care you need. This money is called Direct Payments .

Some people with learning disabilities already have Direct Payments. You can choose to have them. How much your Direct Payment money would be depends on the services your care plan says you need.

What you can buy with Direct Payments:

• help from a place or a person or a team of people
• help with personal things like having a bath or washing or getting dressed
• help to live in your own home, like help with money or cooking or cleaning the house
• help to get out and about, like driving you to see friends, or help to join in doing things with other people
• to provide short breaks.

You can decide how your needs will be met, the times that suit you, and who will provide your help.

Help available to use Direct Payments

We have workers who can help you use Direct Payments. Our Direct Payments workers can tell you about:

• how much money you can spend on buying help
• how you can find people to help you
• how long it might take - 6 weeks or more
• how to manage Direct Payments.

Changing your mind about using Direct Payments

If you start to have Direct Payments and then change your mind, that is okay. Just tell us you want to have your services arranged for you again.

If you are interested and would like our Direct Payments worker to contact you – contact one of the Community Teams .

Independent Living Funds

Independent Living Funds| is a nationally administered fund available to provide money for social and leisure support. The Community Learning Disability Team can tell you if you may be eligible and help you to make an application.

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