Adult Social Services, Freshstart and Voluntary Action North Lincolnshire (VANL) have recently been involved in setting up a 'Newschat' group to bring people in possession of a Social Services personalisation budget into the library. The event is open to other members of the public as well, so that Adult Social Services (ASS) service users can take part in an activity away from a day care setting and mix with general library customers.
Personal Budgets
Over the last three years, Adult Social Services has been implementing the Personalisation Agenda in the North Lincolnshire.
We support the customer to identify their own individual needs and outcomes and work with them to find the best way of achieving these by tailoring the support they receive, both from us and other organisations.
The service and it’s staff are ensuring that our customers individual needs and outcomes are identified and met, through providing a ‘personalised budget’*. This Personal Budget gives the person choice of how to meet their needs and aspirations, and control in using it.
In order to explain how our customers can use their Personal Budget, we have created a diagram that shows the various options available.
The option that gives the customer the most choice and control over how to manage their budget, is for them to receive it a ‘Cash Personal Budget’. They can receive this Cash Personal Budget either as a cash payment into a bank account or put on the councils ‘Pre Loaded Card’. This is simply a card that can be ‘loaded’ with someone’s Personal Budget amount, and used in all the same shops, stores and service providers that you buy from using other similar credit or debit cards you may have.
If someone else is supporting them with their financial affairs (ie a Deputy or Attorney), we can alternatively arrange for their Personal Budget to be managed by them instead, on the customer’s behalf.
When someone requests support from Adult Social Services, and through assessing their needs is awarded a Personal Budget, their ‘Self Directed Support Practitioner’ will explain all these choices to them. Once the customer knows how the service can support them, they can decide on where, how and when they receive their care and support needs in order them to remain independent and improve the quality of their lives.
* Customers will need to meet eligibility criteria before being awarded a personal budget.
