A guide to
Personal Budgets
Easy read format
June 2013
Personal Budgets - more information
These organisations can tell you more about self-directing your support and Personal Budgets:
Cornwall Council
0300 1234 131 www.cornwall.gov.uk Disability Cornwall
01736 759 500
www.disabilitycornwall.org.uk Age UK Cornwall
01872 266 388
www.ageukcornwall.org.uk Get a plan in Cornwall
07814 430 203
email: [email protected]
A guide to Personal Budgets Easy read format
January 2013
This booklet has
information about:
1. What is a Personal Budget?
2. Getting started
3. Managing your budget -
your choices
4. Planning your support
5. Help with employing a Personal Assistant
6. Making sure things are going well
7. Tell us what you think
Page
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3
5
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8. At a glance - your steps 11 towards a Personal Budget
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1. What is a Personal Budget?
If your assessment from Adult Care and Support shows that you have eligible social care needs, we will give you a Personal Budget, to help you live at home.
To see if you are eligible, we will assess each of your social care needs as low, moderate, substantial or critical.
At the moment, the Council can only give Personal Budgets to people with substantial or critical care needs, to live at home.
A Personal Budget is money you can use to organise and buy your own care and support.
Adult Care and Support can still organise services for you if you prefer.
Your needs
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You can choose
• When and how you get support
• And who will provide it
You are in charge of your Personal Budget – because you know best.
It will give you more choice and control over the support you get.
If you are already getting services from Adult Care and Support, you can change your arrangements to a Personal Budget. You can ask your worker about this at any time.
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2. Getting started
The person who visits you will talk with you about your social care needs, your independence and wellbeing.
They will listen carefully to what you say.
If you are new to Adult Care and Support and need help to keep your independence and wellbeing, contact our Access Team on
0300 1234 131.
We will talk over your situation with you, and ask you some questions.
If we think your social care needs are substantial or critical, we will ask a member of staff to visit you to carry out a needs assessment.
We may also tell you about other organisations that can help.
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You may need to pay something towards your support.
Another member of staff will
contact you to look at what money you have coming in and out.
They will tell you if you need to pay something towards your support.
If you have substantial or critical social care needs, we will tell you how much money you are likely to have to buy your care and support.
This is called your Indicative Budget.
They use rules from the
Department of Health to work this out.
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3. Managing your Personal Budget
- your choices
Your next step will be to create a Support Plan. This will show:
• What support you want to buy with your Indicative Budget
• How the support will meet your eligible social care needs
• Who will provide your support
You can also think about the
different ways to manage a Personal Budget.
• If your budget is paid direct to you, you can buy and arrange your own support, or ask someone else or another agency to manage your payment for you
• If you ask the Council to look after it, we arrange and pay for support on your behalf
• Or you can have a mixture of both.
You can choose whichever suits you best.
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4. Planning your support
Here are some examples of what people use their budgets for:
• Employing a Personal Assistant
• Practical help at home or in the community
• Help to go to a local club or sports group
You can come up with ideas of your own.
You cannot use your budget for:
• Everyday expenses like food, rent or mortgage
• Household bills
• Equipment and services that the Health Service should provide
• Gambling or buying lottery tickets
• Anything which is against the law
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Once you have created your Support Plan, Adult Care and Support will need to discuss and agree this with you.
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Then we will tell you the final
amount of money you will get for your care and support.
We call this your Personal Budget.
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The Direct Payments Advice Team can help you to employ someone.
01872 324 357 or email:
directpaymentsadvice team@
cornwall.gov.uk
If your budget is paid directly to you, you can use it to employ a Personal Assistant.
This will mean you have the responsibility of becoming an
employer, but there is help available to do this.
5. Help with employing a Personal Assistant
You can also get lots of help,
information and practical advice from:
Disability Cornwall 01736 759 500, Age UK Cornwall 01872 266 388 Get a Plan in Cornwall
07814 430203
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6. Making sure things are going well
We will plan regular reviews with you. But you can ask for a review at any time if you need to change your support.
Just contact the Council on
0300 1234 100 and ask for your worker.
Shortly after your Personal Budget has started, a member of staff will check with you that everything is going well, and your support plan is working for you.
If your budget is paid direct, you will need to show us how you have used it to meet your eligible social care needs.
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7. Tell us what you think
To let us know what you think - good or bad - contact:
01872 322 655 or email:
[email protected] We want your Personal Budget to work for you.
We also want to hear if things are not going well, or if you have a complaint.
This will give us the chance to put things right.
Let us know – we’d love to hear from you!
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Talk to the Access Team
0300 1234 131
Assessment completed with you
Substantial or critical social care needs
Indicative Budget
Working out how much you need to contribute - financial assessment.
Think about options and getting advice from our Direct Payments Advice Team, if you are interested in employing a Personal Assistant.
8. At a glance - your steps towards a Personal Budget
Create Support Plan - what? how?
who?
Low or moderate social care needs. We will help you find other support.
Adult Care and Support agree Support Plan and letter confirms arrangement
Receive Personal Budget
Arrange support
Review - Adult Care and Support check all is going well
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Printed on recycled paper 31325 01/13
Co-produced November 2012 by Cornwall Council, with help from customers and stakeholders. A big thank you to everyone who helped!
If you would like this information in another format or language please contact:
Cornwall Council
County Hall, Treyew Road Truro TR1 3AY
Telephone: 0300 1234 100
Email: [email protected] www.cornwall.gov.uk