What is self-directed support?

Self-directed support is about individuals being in control of the support they need to live the life they choose. You may have heard it being referred to as 'personalisation' or 'personal budgets and individual service funds'. There are different ways to describe it, but whatever name's given to it - it's about giving people real power and control over their lives.

Fully commissioned support packages do not allow flexibility and only limited control. We believe that this is not the right way to be working.

Direct Payments

A direct payment is money that is paid directly to the individual so they can arrange their own support. If this pathway is possible we actively encourage this.

Personal Budgets and Individual Service Funds

A personal budget is money that is available to someone who needs support. The money comes from their local authority services. Individual service funds are there to assist individuals to have more choice and control but without the added stress of managing their budget and dealing with all the expectations of employing staff to support your like you would with a direct payment. It is a three way agreement between the individual, local authority and the accredited ISF provider.

• The person controlling the budget (or their representative for example ISF) must:

• know how much money that they have for their support

• be able to spend the money in ways and at times that make sense to them

• know what outcomes must be achieved with the money

We are one of the leading ISF providers in the country specialising in supporting adults with a learning difficulty to get the right support they need.