Many of the individuals we support receive full or part funding from  Local Authority Adult or Children’s Social Care Departments. In these circumstances, Edenvale Care receives a referral from the Local Authority and then we will complete a comprehensive needs assessment working alongside the individual, family, friends and other supporters and  professionals to ensure that we understand what needs the individual has and how we can best help to meet those needs.

Once everyone agrees we will work together to develop a plan that details how we will work with the individual , their family and other supporters to meet all of the needs identified and together we will all review this plan regularly to make sure that any change in need is included in the plan.

Some individuals pay for their own care and support We offer the same comprehensive service to all of the individuals we support.  However when people are self funding they can contact us directly or with the support of a friend, family member, advocate or another professional that they already work with such as a GP or Health Professional or Solicitor for example.

Direct Payments, Personal Budgets and Individual Budgets

Direct payments are cash payments made by the Local Authority to individuals who have been assessed as needing services, in lieu of social service provisions.  This means that,  individuals can recruit their own carer or care service provider  who works directly for them, this provides more flexibility to meet changing needs and enables individuals to develop long term positive relationships with one specific carer or core group of carers who will provide regular and consistent support.

If you are in receipt of Local Authority funding and would like a direct payment so that you have more control over the support you need, please contact your local Direct Payments Team for further advice and information.

Personal Budgets are a relatively new term and used in reference to an amount of money allocated by the Local Authority which is considered appropriate to meet individual care and support needs.  Personal budgets is a term generally used when referring to an allocation of money solely for funding allocated by social care departments.  Local Authorities plan to have as many people as possible allocated a Personal Budget as soon as possible.

Personal budgets can be distributed in a number of ways such as a direct payment, through a trust fund, paid directly to the care and support provider, or to a family member or solicitor who manages finances on the individuals behalf for example.

Individual Budgets are similar to personal budgets but may also include funding from a variety of sources such as the Supporting People Programme, Disabled Facilities Grants and a range of specialist and Health Services for example.  All of the money allocated in the Individual Budget can be used to help meet a wide range of needs not just specifically funded through social care departments.  Pooling the resources together into one Individual Budget  can often mean that so much more can be achieved with the same amount of overall funding, providing better value for money, offer more flexibility and achieve better outcomes overall for the individual.