Personal budgets

The assessment can also involve your GP, district nurse or other health professional if you wish. Adult Social Care will arrange for an interpreter if you do not speak English or if you use sign language.

After the assessment, Adult Social Care uses eligibility criteria set by the Government to work out whether you qualify for support. If the assessment shows you have eligible care and support needs which significantly impact on your wellbeing, you will be offered support in finding ways to meet these needs.

East Sussex Adult Social Care produces a factsheet ‘Who qualifies for our support?’, which explains more about the national eligibility criteria for carers and adults with care and support needs. You can find this at eastsussex.gov.uk/factsheets, or by contacting Health and Social Care Connect. See page 6 for more information on leaflets and factsheets.

Brighton & Hove City Council has produced a leaflet called ‘Are you entitled to Adult Social Care Services?’ You can find this leaflet by visiting

brighton-hove.gov.uk/adult-social-care-hub Having your say in your support

If, following an assessment of your needs and finances, you qualify for support and financial help from Adult Social Care, you should have as much choice and control as possible over your support, within the limitations of the current financial climate.

For example, you should have a say in what type of support you get, and who provides it. Adult Social Care will discuss with you:

• the type of support you need and when you need it;

• your own preferences;

• any particular needs you have, such as cultural or religious needs;

• how your support could be provided; and

• when your needs will be reviewed.

For information on paying for care and financial assessments see page 55.

Adult Social Care may provide you with a personal budget, which is the amount of money it would cost to pay for support that meets your assessed eligible needs. The amount of your personal budget is determined by your care and support needs, as identified by your needs assessment.

Depending on your financial circumstances, it is likely you will contribute at least part of the cost of your support, and this will form the first part of your budget. However, you should have a financial assessment to see whether the Council will contribute to the costs. See page 55 for more information.

You can choose how much control you want over your personal budget. If you are eligible, you can manage your budget and support plan and organise your care and support yourself using a direct payment, where any Council contribution is paid directly to you. Alternatively, you can ask Adult Social Care, or another person or organisation to support you to manage your direct payment. This money must be used to meet your agreed care and support needs in a cost-effective way. You cannot use a personal budget to pay for permanent residential care.

East Sussex

East Sussex Adult Social Care publishes leaflets called ‘A guide to Adult Social Care’ and ‘What you will need to pay towards the cost of your care and support’, as well as factsheets which provide more information on personal budgets and direct payments. These are available from Health and Social Care Connect or at

eastsussex.gov.uk/factsheets

East Sussex County Council provides direct support for people with direct payments and has a contract with two organisations, PeoplePlus and Independent Lives, to provide support to people using direct payments to employ personal assistants (PAs).

For further information, contact East Sussex County Council’s Health and Social Care Connect on 0345 60 80 191 or one of the following.

Independent Lives

Tel: 01903 219482 (option three). Email: advice@independentlives.org Web: independentlives.org

PeoplePlus

Tel: 01323 414674 (option three). Email: ilseastsussex@peopleplus.co.uk Web: peopleplus.co.uk

Brighton & Hove

Brighton & Hove Council publishes information sheets on paying for care at home, paying for residential care and has the option to complete an online financial assessment. This online assessment acts as a guide on how much you may need to pay for care and support.

To read more about paying for your care and support and to download resources to help, visit

brighton-hove.gov.uk/adult-social-care/payyour-care-and-support

PeoplePlus

Tel: 0330 123 2815 Email: ilsbrightonandhove@peopleplus.co.uk Web: peopleplus.co.uk

Employing a personal assistant

Increasingly, people are choosing to employ their own care workers, known as personal assistants (PAs). This gives you the most choice, control and flexibility over your support, who provides it and when.

If you qualify for financial support from Adult Social Care, and you receive a direct payment (see page 53), you could use it to employ a PA. PAs offer support with various everyday activities and will fit around the needs included in your support plan, your schedule and can support you when it suits you.

Employing staff might sound difficult, but there is plenty of help available. In East Sussex, PeoplePlus or Independent Lives (see above) can help you with everything from finding the right person, to understanding your responsibilities as an employer. PeoplePlus also does this in Brighton & Hove.

This support to be a good employer is free. PeoplePlus, Independent Lives and some other companies offer a payroll service for calculating your PA’s wages, or they can simply manage parts of your direct payment on your behalf. There is a charge for managing your payroll, which you would pay from your direct payment.

If you need more information about using your direct payment to employ a PA, contact your local Council.

If you are paying for your own support, you can, of course, still arrange a PA. Based on the support you need, you will either need to employ a PA yourself or the PA may be able to provide support on a selfemployed basis.

The Support with Confidence schemes (see page 19) can help you find self-employed PAs that you can trust, whatever kind of support you need, to help you live independently.

If you would rather employ a PA, there are lots of registered PAs looking for work on PeoplePlus and Independent Lives’ notice boards. If you would like support with this, the Direct Payments Support Service advisers at PeoplePlus or Independent Lives can help, although there may be a charge.

If you have any questions about the PA Noticeboard, contact PeoplePlus or Independent Lives; see page 53 and above.

You can also look online for a PA, for example on East Sussex 1Space at 1space.eastsussex.gov.uk For Brighton & Hove, visit

brighton-hove.gov.uk/personal-assistant

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