Choosing how you organise and pay for care

If you are eligible for social care support services you can choose how much input or responsibility you wish to have in organising your own care.

Following your Care Needs Assessment and any Financial Needs Assessments, you will be informed how much money you may be allocated to spend on social care support.
Your social worker will then work with you to agree a Care Support Plan that meet your personal needs.
At this point, our social worker team will discuss how much input or responsibility you wish to have in organising your own care. Other people, such as family and friends, or independent organisations can also help you with this.
This approach is known as Self-Directed Support (SDS).

Background to Self-Directed Support

Self-Directed Support is the name for how people organise care and support in Scotland. It is often called SDS for short. The term SDS comes from the law that came into effect in 2014, the Social Care (Self Directed Support) (Scotland) Act. It was introduced to give people who need care and support more choice, control and flexibility.

Further information about Self Directed Support is available in this SDS Handbook prepared by Self Directed Support Scotland.

Your Self-Directed Support Options

There are four main options available under Self-Directed Support:

Option 1: you can receive money directly to spend on what you need (this is called a direct payment).
Option 2: you decide and direct how you want to spend your budget and the support is arranged on your behalf. You direct the support, but you do not have to manage the money.
Option 3: you request East Lothian Council to arrange and manage your support for you entirely.
Option 4: a mix of the options above.

Each of these options are explored in more detail below.

Option 1: Direct Payment

Option 1 gives you the most control, flexibility and responsibility when it comes to your social care support.

Direct payments can be used in a couple of ways:

You can either use it to purchase support directly from an agency or provider (for example for choosing your own care at home agency or respite provider).
Or you can choose to become an employer and recruit your own personal assistant to provide support at home.

To access a direct payment you will need to:

have a separate bank account, which you will access and manage, to hold the money provided to you to pay for your care services
complete a small amount of paperwork to show how you are spending your money
provide updates to our Direct Payments Team to allow us to monitor your spending under the SDS Direct Payment option
be willing and able to make a personal contribution to cover the full costs of the care if it exceeds the amount allocated to you

Direct Payment Leaflet
We have created a leaflet which can be downloaded which provides further information about Direct Payment Options.

Direct payment leaflet

If you choose to become an employer there are certain employment rules that you must take into account, for example arranging an employment contract.

Our support organisation, Lothian Centre for Inclusive Living, can help you with this. You can also download our guide to Employing Your Own Personal Assistant here.

Option 2: Individual Service Fund

Option 2 is a way of choosing how your support budget is used, without managing the money yourself.

If you want to choose how to use your support budget, but you do not want the responsibility of managing the money directly, this might be a good option for you.

Under this option, the funds allocated to you are held and managed by East Lothian Council, or another organisation, such as a charity or support provider on your behalf.
You choose how you want to be supported, by who, and it is organised on your behalf.
This option means you do not have to become an employer, or submit any financial returns.
You may however, need to be willing to make a personal contribution to cover the full costs of the care if it exceeds the amount allocated to you.
However, this option does means you are unable to recruit your own personal assistant, as this requires you to sign up to being an employer.

Option 3: Organised Care

Option 3 is when you ask East Lothian Council to choose and arrange the support that it thinks is right for you.

Under this option you are not responsible for arranging your own support.
Although your care will be discussed and arranged with you, you have less direct choice and control over how the support is arranged.
You will not have to handle any money, and you are placing the trust in the council to manage your budget.

Option 4: Mixed Choice

Option 4 provides you with the opportunity to use a mixture of the options above.

You can choose the parts of your support you want to have direct control over, and what you want to leave to your council to sort out for you.
For example: you use Option 2 to direct what agency you want to use to provide your care support, but also use Option 3 to ask the council to contract a respite provider on your behalf.

Further information about Self-Directed Support

The following websites provide more detailed guidance on SDS:

Self Directed Support Scotland Website

SDS Framework of Standards (Scottish Government)