Direct Payments

Our Direct Payments service exists to support people with their Personal Budget. A Personal Budget is an amount of money allocated to someone by a funder, such as a local authority or in the NHS, to pay for your care and support. The amount you receive is based on an assessment of your needs, and you can choose to receive this in the form of a Direct Payment.

Receiving Direct Payments means that you will be given the funding in order to make your own care arrangements, rather than having services arranged on your behalf. Direct Payments are a way of having more choice and control over how you receive your support, but they come with extra responsibility, such as becoming an employer.

Once your Personal Budget has been allocated, you can then choose whether you would like to employ your own Personal Assistant / Support Worker or use a care agency. If you choose to go down the route of employing your own PA or Support Worker, we offer a number of packages that can support you with this decision.

On the other hand, you may feel that you do not wish to take on the responsibility of a Direct Payment and decide to have a service arranged for you instead. Having an arranged or ‘direct’ service can sometimes limit your choices, so it’s worth noting that you can actually combine the two. You may choose to have some of your support as a Direct Service and the rest as a Direct Payment.

Our Packages

Employment Package

This provides support with employment set-up and ongoing employment matters, plus a payroll service. Full employment set up; including advice on how much you can afford to pay your worker; set-up of your own PAYE scheme and then acting as your agent with HMRC; registering your workers with HMRC; providing all legal employment documentation and information regarding employer's liability insurance; requesting references and support with Disclosure and Barring Service forms. We will also provide a full on going payroll service, including four-weekly wage slips, holiday, sickness and other statutory entitlements, end-of-year information and close the payroll when the worker leaves. We can also provide you with employee management support, including employment law advice, changes to contracts, disciplinary issues and sending out replacement timesheets etc. The support will be provided over the phone, email and our website but you may also access 1 visit per year from a SIL adviser (up to an hour in length) if required. Additional visits are charged separately.

Employment and Recruitment Package Plus

The full, personalised support. Everything included in the Employment and Recruitment Support Package, plus face-to-face support with up to four home visits per year. All support and advice is provided by your own dedicated adviser, who will also provide you with bi-monthly courtesy calls to check everything is running smoothly. We will also liaise with Suffolk County Council on your behalf, as required.

Employment and Recruitment Package

This provides the same as the Employment Package, plus recruitment support up to three times per year. Everything that is included in the Employment package, plus support to recruit your own worker(s) up to three times for year, including writing your own job descriptions, placing advert in local media, corresponding with applicants, shortlisting and arranging of interviews. We will also inform unsuccessful candidates, as well as keeping records of the recruitment and employment documentation.

Holding Account

Options for holding your Direct Payment. We will set up a holding account to receive your Direct Payment money from Suffolk County Council which is personal to you. We will then make payments as requested by you and maintain records of what comes in and what you spend your money on. So you can maintain control of your Direct Payment, we will send you four-weekly statements detailing what you have spent and what you have left in your account. This account can be linked to a payroll service and will enable us to make payments directly to your workers and HMRC. We will also liaise with Suffolk County Council with respect to your Direct Payments monitoring as requested.

Assisted Account

Options for holding your Direct Payment. This account is for Direct Payment recipients who do not employ their own workers. As with the Holding Account, we will set up an account to receive your Direct Payment money from Suffolk County Council, and make payments at your request. However, we will also alert you if your account balance falls below an amount agreed by you with the support of your allocated adviser, who will also be available to offer support and advice with respect to using the account. We will provide information to Suffolk County Council in order to satisfy their monitoring requirements as and when requested.