 |
 |
| Publications |
| Home | Press | Publications | What We Do | Who We Are | Search | Site Map | Contacts | Links | ||||
|
|
|||
| > Publications > A to Z |
< Previous | Contents | Next >
Purpose
1. The aim of this policy guidance (which is issued under Section 5(1) of the Social Work (Scotland) Act 1968) is to set out the Government's view of what local authorities should do if they choose to exercise the power given to them by the Community Care (Direct Payments) Act 1996 ("the Act"). The Act inserts new Sections 12B and 12C into the Social Work (Scotland) Act 1968 ("the 1968 Act"). The Act gives local authorities the power to make direct cash payments to some individuals in lieu of the community care services they have been assessed as needing, to enable them to secure for themselves the relevant services. Direct payments are a different way of fulfilling existing community care responsibilities and the existing policy and practice guidance on community care also applies to the making of direct payments. This guidance is intended to supplement existing guidance to explain how the Government sees direct payments fitting into the wider community care arena.
2. The accompanying practice guidance advises on how local authorities might implement the Act. The two pieces of guidance should be read together.
Context -policy aims and objectives
3. The Government's aim, in giving local authorities the power to make direct payments, is to increase users independence by giving them more control over the way the community care services they receive are delivered. A direct payment is a payment made by a local authority to an individual whom it has assessed as needing community care services. The local authority makes the payment instead of arranging the services it has assessed the person as needing. The person then uses the payment to secure for himself or herself the relevant services. So long as the authority is satisfied that the person's assessed needs will be met through the arrangements he or she makes using the direct payment, the local authority is relieved of its responsibility to arrange those services for that person.
POLICY GUIDANCE
4. The aim of direct payments is to promote independence, and this is achieved most effectively when they are introduced in a spirit of partnership between the local authority and the user. Local authorities should seek to leave as much choice as possible in the hands of the individual. However, since direct payments are an alternative way of securing services which the local authority would otherwise arrange, and are public funds, the local authority needs to be satisfied that the person's assessed needs are being met, and that the money is being spent appropriately and cost-effectively.
5. Making a direct payment does not affect an authority's function of providing emergency assistance under Section 12 of the 1968 Act. If the authority considers the circumstances to be so exceptional as to require such assistance, they may so provide it in respect of the services to which the direct payment relates (see new Section 12C (3) of the 1968 Act).
Scope of the Act
6. The Act enables local authorities to make direct payments to some people (specified in regulations) whom it has assessed under Section 12A of the 1968 Act as needing community care services. Community care services are defined in Section SA (4) of the 1968 Act.
7. The Act gives local authorities a power to make direct payments. It does not give them a duty to do so. Each local authority may decide for itself whether to use direct payments to help meet the needs of its local population and, in each case, for which service or services to offer direct payments. Local authorities may arrange some services for someone as well as making direct payments to him or her. Local authorities should not treat people to whom they decide to offer direct payments any more or any less favourably than people who receive services. Furthermore, direct payments are not the only way in which local authorities can promote independence and give people more influence over the way the community care services they need are provided. Local authorities should continue to develop other ways of making their services more responsive to the needs and wishes of service users.
POLICY GUIDANCE
8. Direct payments may only be made by a local authority in lieu of community care services, so they may only be offered to people who are assessed as needing community care services. This means that local authorities should not offer direct payments to people who do not meet their usual eligibility criteria for community care.
9. The Act does not authorise any other body, such as a health board or a housing department, to make direct payments; nor does it enable direct payments to be used to purchase health or housing services. Direct payments may be made by the local authority in place of the social care element of jointly-commissioned services, but they cannot be made by health boards, or used to purchase the NHS element of jointly-commissioned services.
10. The, legislation does not authorise a local authority to make direct payments to people under 18, or to adults for the purpose of purchasing services for children or young people under the age of 18.
11. Users may ask carers or other third parties to help them manage direct payments and a third party acting as a user's agent in this way may,' in fact, be the person who receives and handles the money. But the user must remain in control of the arrangements, and remains accountable for the way in which the direct payments are used. The Act does not allow local authorities to make payments to third parties to manage on behalf of the user where the user is not in control (see also paragraph 24). This is true even where the services provided to the user are intended specifically to assist the carer.
12. Not everyone who is eligible for community care services will be eligible for direct payments. Regulations made under new Section 12B (l)(b) of the 1968 Act specify which groups of people are eligible. Local authorities should check the current regulations but, as at 1 April 1997, under the Community Care (Direct Payments) (Scotland) Regulations 1997 the eligible group is certain persons in need under the age of 65 who are capable of managing direct payments. The regulations define a person in need by reference to the definition in Section 94 (1) of the 1968 Act, "person in need" -paragraph (b). This might therefore include people with any kind of impairment: for example, those with physical, including sensory disabilities, learning disabilities and people who are disabled by illness (for example those affected by mental illness, or by HTV/AIDS). Direct payments may not be made to people aged 65 or over, unless the person concerned has been receiving direct payments in the year before he or she reaches that age. Everyone to whom direct payments are made must be willing and able to manage them (alone or with assistance). The Government will review the eligible group when the Act has been in force for one year. Within the eligible group, authorities should not discriminate unfairly between people who request direct payments when considering their suitability.
13. The regulations in force at 1 April 1997 also specify that direct payments may not be offered to certain people whose liberty to arrange their care is restricted by certain mental health or criminal justice legislation as follows:
(i) patients subject to after-care under a community care order under the
mental health legislation;
(ii) patients detained under mental health legislation who are on leave of
absence from hospital
(iii) patients subject to guardianship under the mental health or criminal
justice legislation;
(iv) restricted patients conditionally discharged under mental health or criminal
justice legislation;
(v) offenders serving a probation order subject to an additional requirement
to undergo treatment for a mental health condition or for drug or alcohol
dependency;
(vi) offenders released on licence subject to an additional requirement to
undergo treatment for a mental health condition or for drug or alcohol dependency;
and
(vii) people subject to equivalent mental health or criminal justice legislation
applicable in England or Wales.
14. People in these groups are required to receive specific community care services. Offering them direct payments in lieu of those services would not give a sufficient guarantee that the person would receive the services required.
15. The only community care service for which direct payments may not substitute is permanent residential care. Direct payments may be made to enable people to purchase for themselves short stays in residential accommodation, but regulations under new Section 12B (4) of the 1968 Act specify the maximum period. Again, local authorities should check the current regulations, but as of 1 April 1997 the regulations specify that where two periods of residential care are less than 4 weeks apart, they should be added together to make a cumulative total. If the two periods are more than four weeks apart they are not added together. The cumulative total, calculated in this way, cannot be more than four weeks in any twelve month period.
16. For example, someone might have one week of residential care every six weeks. Because each week in residential care is more than four weeks apart, they are not added together. The cumulative total is only one week and the four week limit is never reached. Another person might have three weeks in residential care, two weeks at home, and then another week in residential care. The two episodes of residential care are added together to make four weeks, so the person cannot use their direct payments to purchase any more residential care within a twelve-month period.
17. People can receive additional residential care once they have reached the four-week maximum. They cannot purchase the residential care using their direct payments, but if the local authority considers that further residential care is needed, the authority can still arrange and fund residential care for the person in the normal way.
Consultation and information
18. Local authorities are required to seek the views of representatives of people who use community care services in preparing their community care plans. This should include representatives of people who receive or are likely to receive direct payments and their carers. Local authorities should also consult representatives of people who might wish to receive direct payments and others with an interest, including providers of community care services, when considering how to implement the Act locally. They should also, as with community care generally, listen to the views of users and carers as part of their overall monitoring and reviewing of the way in which they operate direct payments.
19. As with all local authority services, information about direct payments should be made readily available and accessible. It should be included in the information about the services available which local authorities already provide, even if fuller information about direct payments is available separately.
Assessment for direct payments
20. Assessment is a crucial process. Getting the assessment right is the key to making direct payments work. Detailed policy and practice guidance on assessment already exists, and should be followed whether the person being assessed is likely to receive services or direct payments. In particular, it is important that the needs-led focus of the assessment is retained and that the user and, with the user's agreement, any informal carer, should be involved throughout the assessment process.
21. People who are already receiving services may wish to switch to direct payments. They may raise this possibility themselves, or the local authority may wish to suggest it; and the issue might arise at, or between, a person's reviews. This guidance applies equally to people with whom the authority is undertaking a community care assessment for the first time, and existing service users with whom the authority is discussing a switch to direct payments.
22. Direct payments can only be offered to someone who has been assessed as needing community care services. The decision to offer direct payments, like the decision of which services to arrange, therefore follows the assessment of an individual's needs. However, assessment of needs and decisions about how these needs should be met should be seen as part of one process. The local authority has discretion over whether or not to offer someone a direct payment. In addition to the authority's assessment of the person's needs, if the authority is considering offering the person direct payments then the process will need to include an assessment of whether direct payments are appropriate, and in particular of whether the person is able to manage them. The user also needs time to think through the implications of taking on direct payments and to consider whether this is what he or she wants. Authorities should ensure that, if they are considering offering direct payments, they build time into the assessment process for both their own assessment as to whether direct payments are appropriate, and the user's consideration. They should raise the possibility of direct payments with the person being assessed at an early stage to give him or her as much time as possible to think about this. Authorities should also give the person as much information as possible about what receiving direct payments will involve, before asking the person to make their decision (see also paragraphs 28 to 30).
23. Local authorities should only offer direct payments to people who they consider will be able to manage them, either alone or with assistance. Authorities have the discretion to refuse direct payments to anyone who they judge would not be able to manage them, but should avoid making blanket assumptions that whole groups of people will necessarily be unable to do so. The judgement as to whether someone is able to manage will need to be made on an individual basis, taking into account the views of the individual himself or herself. As with all community care assessments, health professionals should be involved where appropriate.
24. People may receive assistance with managing the money, but they remain accountable for the way it is spent. The payment may be made to a third party as agent for the user, but the person for whom the direct payment is made must retain the ultimate control over the money, and the final responsibility for how it is spent. This does not necessarily mean that the person for whom the direct payments are made must authorise every transaction. People may express a preference about how a service is to be provided, and delegate the details to an agent. However, it must be open to the individual to overrule any decisions made by the agent. Direct payments are intended to facilitate independent living, not to switch from dependence on the local authority to dependence on a third party. Local authorities should satisfy themselves that the relationship between the user and the agent has been discussed and agreed before direct payments begin.
25. If the authority concludes that someone could only manage direct payments with help, it should satisfy itself that adequate help is available over a sustained period before deciding to offer direct payments. Users may for example choose to ask family or friends, advocacy or support groups to help them in this way. They might also choose to buy in assistance, eg using a payroll service. There is no restriction on who may help a user in this way, although the restrictions on paying relatives described in paragraphs 35 and 36 below will apply if the local authority has agreed that the direct payment can be used to pay someone to help in this way. Where significant help is being provided, the authority will need to ensure that any monitoring and review procedures involve direct contact with the individual for whom the payments are made, if necessary in the absence of the person who is helping him or her, to ensure that the user is content with the way in which the direct payment is being used. Both local authorities and users should also be aware of the potential conflict of interest if the user secures services from the same person who is helping him or her to manage the direct payment.
26. Some users who initially need help to manage their direct payments will in time be able to manage on their own. However, it is possible that not everyone will be able to do so. There is no restriction on the length of time over which the user may receive help to manage the direct payment; people who will be receiving help to manage their direct payments on a permanent or indefinite basis still come within the eligible group of people to whom local authorities are permitted to offer direct payments.
27. Local authorities should ensure that they handle sensitively discussions with the user about the user's ability to manage direct payments. This is particularly important where the authority decides not to offer someone direct payments because it does not consider that, even with assistance, the individual will be able to manage them.
Consent
28. The Act authorises local authorities to make direct payments only with the consent of the person concerned. Direct payments give users greater control and independence, but this increased freedom is inevitably accompanied by increased responsibilities. When users consent to direct payments, they take on the responsibility for purchasing the services to which the payments relate. This involves ensuring that they receive the appropriate services to an acceptable quality. It may also involve taking on legal responsibilities (e.g. as an employer, or by contracting with an agency). The user is also accountable to the local authority for the way in which the money is spent. These responsibilities involve a substantial commitment in terms of time and energy, and should not be underestimated. Local authorities will wish to establish that each person understands what is involved and believes that he or she would be able to manage the direct payment (whether alone or with help). Local authorities should not make direct payments to a person unless they are satisfied that he or she understands and accepts the responsibilities involved.
29. Local authorities should explain what is involved as fully as they can to people who wish to consider receiving direct payments. They should not expect people to commit themselves to accepting direct payments before full information is available- for example before the person has been informed how much money they would receive or what information they would be expected to record for monitoring purposes (see also paragraph 48).
30. In particular, authorities should draw people's attention to the fact that any contract they make for the provision of services will involve legal responsibilities, and that if the person contracts directly with an individual they may be regarded as an employer. Authorities should make clear to each user that it is his or her own responsibility to ensure that he or she is aware of and complies with, any legal responsibilities.
31. The local authority should also make clear that it will arrange services in the normal way if someone decides not to accept direct payments. Having offered someone a direct payment, the authority should not pressurise him or her to accept direct payments. It should be made clear at every stage that people have the option of withdrawing their consent to receive direct payments at any time, and local authorities should discuss with people who are to receive direct payments what they should do if they no longer wish to receive direct payments.
32. Situations may arise where people will refuse to accept direct payments because they object to a specific aspect of the terms on which the payments are offered, for example the amount or the conditions attached. If it is not possible to resolve these matters through discussion, local authorities should advise people in this situation of their right to use the complaint procedure.
Carers' assessments
33. Local authorities are reminded that it is important to involve carers. This is the case irrespective of whether the person being assessed is likely to be offered direct payments or services after the assessment. There should be discussion with the user and the carer about how the assessment should be performed, and how the carer might be involved in this. In this guidance the term 'carers' is being used in the same way as in the Carers (Recognition and Services) Act 1995 (which amended Section 12A of the 1968 Act); it does not therefore include people who the user pays to provide care using the direct payment. Under the Carers (Recognition and Services) Act 1995, authorities also have a duty, on request by the carer, to offer carers who are providing, or intend to provide, substantial and regular care a separate assessment of their ability to care and continue caring. The results of the carer's assessment should be taken into account when the local authority is making decisions about services to be provided to the user. This duty is not affected by the possibility that the user may be offered direct payments instead of services, or that the user may receive direct payments for services which specifically reflect the results of the carer's assessment. Carers' rights under the Carers (Recognition and Services) Act 1995 apply equally to carers of direct payments recipients and carers of service recipients.
Deciding how direct payments are to be used
34. In order to satisfy itself that the person's assessed needs will be met, each local authority should discuss with anyone to whom it proposes to offer direct payments how he or she intends to secure the services he or she has been assessed as needing. Local authorities should make clear to people, before they start to receive direct payments, what the money may or may not be spent on and how much flexibility the person has over the way the money is spent. It is up to the local authority to decide how much flexibility to allow people, but it will wish to bear in mind that the aim of the policy is to give people more choice and control over the services they are assessed as needing. Local authorities should also make clear to people before starting to make direct payments the procedure to be followed if they wish to depart from the agreed arrangements.
35. As of 1 April 1997, regulations under new Section 12B (3) of the 1968 Act prevent people using direct payments to secure services from their partner (ie. the other member of a married or unmarried couple) or a close relative living in the same household. A close relative in this context is a parent, parent-in-law, aunt, uncle, grandparent, son, daughter, son-in-law, daughter-in-law, step son or daughter, brother, sister or the spouse or partner of any of the foregoing.
36. In addition, local authorities should not allow people to use direct payments to secure services from a close relative living elsewhere or from someone else living in the same household as the direct payment recipient. This restriction is not intended to prevent people using their direct payments to employ a live-in personal assistant (provided that that person is not someone who would be excluded automatically by the regulations). The restriction applies where the relationship between the two people is primarily personal rather than contractual, eg if the people concerned would be living together regardless of any employment relationship. A local authority may decide that an exception to this general rule is justified, if it is satisfied that that is the only appropriate way of securing the relevant services.
37. Local authorities need to be satisfied, on an ongoing basis, that the person's assessed needs are being met, and that the money is being spent appropriately. They may set conditions on the direct payment to ensure this but they should not set conditions which are not necessary for the successful implementation of the Government's policy in relation to direct payments or the discharge of local authority responsibilities (eg to ensure the proper use of public funds). In particular, they should not set a condition that someone who receives direct payments may only use certain providers. Apart from the prohibitions set out in the regulations or this guidance, local authorities should allow people to purchase services from any provider who is able to provide an adequate service to meet the user's assessed needs.
38. Direct payments cannot be used to purchase any local authority services as local authorities are not permitted to sell their services in this way. However, an individual could receive both direct payments and services provided by the local authority in the normal way within his or her care package.
39. Local authorities are reminded of existing guidance which states that services to be provided or arranged and the objectives of any intervention should be agreed in the form of a care plan, a written copy of which should be given to the user. This guidance applies equally where direct payments are provided in lieu of services.
Cost effectiveness
40. A local authority should not make direct payments unless they are at least as cost-effective as the services which it would otherwise arrange. In any comparison between the cost of a direct payment and the cost of a service, the local authority should use the full cost of each, taking account of any administrative costs and other overheads. Local authorities may, if they choose, make direct payments at a greater cost than the cost of arranging the equivalent service, provided they are satisfied that this is still at least as cost-effective as arranging the services, ie that the increased cost is justified by the greater effectiveness arising from enabling the person to manage his or her own services and live independently.
Calculating the amount of a direct payment
41. It is up to each local authority to decide on the amount of a direct payment and on what it is supposed to cover. The Government is not setting any limit on the maximum or minimum amount of a direct payment, either in the amount of care it is intended to purchase, or on the value of the direct payment. The Act requires local authorities to make direct payments at a rate which, taken with any financial contribution from the person concerned (see paragraph 45 below), is equal to the authority's estimate of the reasonable cost of his or her securing the provision of the service concerned. This means that direct payments must be sufficient to enable the recipient legally to secure a service of a standard which the local authority considers adequate to fulfil the needs for which the payment is made. Local authorities should consider the arrangements which each individual proposes to make when deciding on the value of a direct payment, but the authority cannot be required to make direct payments to cover specific costs where there is a more cost-effective way of securing the service (whilst still enabling the user to meet any legal requirements).
42. There may be cases where an individual thinks that the total value of the direct payment should be greater than the local authority proposes and/or that his or her contribution should be less than the local authority proposes. In such cases, the local authority is under no obligation to increase the amount offered above the level which it considers reasonable to enable the recipient to secure the relevant services, taking account of the individual's contribution. The authority may decide to increase the amount nevertheless so as to enable the person to secure his or her preferred service if it is satisfied that the benefits of doing so outweigh the costs and that it is still cost-effective in comparison with services arranged by the local authority. Where these cases cannot be resolved through discussion, local authorities should advise the individual that he or she may pursue the matter through the authority's complaints procedure.
43. The local authority should give individuals as much notice as possible of the value of a direct payment, and the contribution they will be expected to make to the cost of their care package (see paragraph 45), before the payment begins, or its level is changed. This gives an opportunity for any dispute over the level to be resolved before the payment begins or the change takes effect. If that is not possible, then while any complaint is being considered, users may choose either to manage on the amount of direct payments being offered, without prejudice to their complaint that it is inadequate, or to refuse to accept the direct payments, in which case the local authority must arrange the relevant services instead. If the local authority is satisfied that it would be a proper and cost-effective use of its resources, it may decide to pay a direct payment at a higher rate than it had originally intended, until the dispute is resolved. This is entirely the local authority's decision; as always, it is up to the authority to decide on the appropriate level of a direct payment.
44. Direct payments recipients can use their own resources to purchase additional, or better quality, services to those in their care plan if they wish to do so.
"Charging" for direct payments
45. The Act enables the local authority to require the individual to make a financial contribution to the cost of his or her care, by making direct payments of less than its estimate of the reasonable cost of securing the provision of the service concerned. The direct payment is therefore made' net of the contribution which the individual is expected to make. This is equivalent to local authorities' power to levy a charge for services which they arrange under Section 87 of the 1968 Act. In considering whether, and if so how, to ask individuals to make a financial contribution to the cost of their care package, local authorities should treat people who receive direct payments as they would have treated them under the authority's charging policy if those people were receiving the equivalent services. The principle which local authorities should follow is that there should be fair and equitable treatment between service users and direct payments recipients.
Monitoring and reviews
46. When a person consents to receive direct payments, he or she takes on the responsibility for securing services to a standard which both he or she and the local authority consider is adequate. The local authority is relieved of. its responsibility to arrange services for that person, so long as it is satisfied that the needs to which the payments relate will be met through the arrangements he or she makes with the payments. If it is not satisfied that those arrangements will be adequate, its responsibilities towards the user are the same as if no payment has been made. It follows that the local authority will need to set up monitoring arrangements so as to satisfy itself that people's arrangements are meeting their needs.
47. The fact that the local authority is making direct payments rather than arranging services itself does not affect its responsibility to review people's care package at regular intervals. As with all community care services, the projected timing of the first review should be set when direct payments begin. People should be made aware that they may request a review sooner if their circumstances change. The purpose of the review remains to establish whether the objectives set in the original care plan are being met. It should cover both the question of whether the person's needs have changed and how he or she is managing direct payments.
48. Each local authority should also set up financial monitoring arrangements for audit purposes, to fulfil its responsibility to ensure that public funds are spent on the intended services. CIPFA are intending to produce guidance for local authorities on this point. Before people decide to accept direct payments, local authorities should discuss with them the information they will be expected to provide and the way in which monitoring will be carried out. Direct payments should not begin until the recipient has agreed to any conditions which are necessary for monitoring purposes.
49. For direct payments to work, it is essential that these two forms of monitoring are co-ordinated. If they are not to be carried out by the same person, local authorities should ensure that information is exchanged and that all those involved understand the purpose of direct payments, and the role that the authority's monitoring plays in the successful operation of the policy. In particular, information from both forms of monitoring should be considered in any decision to change the level or to stop, a direct payment.
When difficulties arise
50. Local authorities should discuss with each person what arrangements he or she will make for emergencies, to ensure that the person receives the care he or she needs when the usual arrangements break down, eg through sickness of one of the person's personal assistants. It is reasonable for a local authority to expect the person to have contingency plans, but if a local authority becomes aware that someone is unable to secure services to meet his or her needs, then its responsibility to arrange services for that person is the same as if it had not made any direct payments. The local authority will need to be prepared to respond in these circumstances just as it would with any other service user. It may decide to step in and arrange the necessary services, but it should first consider providing assistance to enable the person to continue to manage his or her own care.
When to seek repayment
51. The Act enables local authorities to require some or all of the money they have paid out to be repaid if they are not satisfied that it has been used to secure the provision of the service to which it relates. They may also require repayment if the person has not met any condition which the authority has properly imposed, including that described in paragraph 36 above and those imposed by the regulations. Local authorities which decide to require repayment by someone who they know is also receiving payments from the Independent Living Funds (ILFs) should inform the ILFs as soon as possible and should seek to agree if possible a common approach if the ILFs are also seeking recovery.
52. It is up to the local authority to decide when it is appropriate to seek recovery, but local authorities should bear in mind that this power is intended to enable them to recover money which has been diverted from the purpose for which it was intended, or which has simply not been spent at all. It is not intended to be used to penalise honest mistakes. Local authorities should be satisfied, before they start to make direct payments, that people who receive direct payments understand all of the conditions they will be required to meet. Additional conditions should only be imposed insofar as they are necessary to ensure that the objectives of the 'Government's policy in relation to direct payments are met and that the local authority's responsibilities (eg to monitor the use to which public funds are put) are discharged. Local authorities should take into account hardship considerations in deciding whether to seek repayments. When considering whether to recover unspent funds, authorities should also bear in mind that there may be legitimate reasons, which may involve outstanding legal liabilities, for a direct payment recipient to build up an apparent surplus (eg to pay their employees' quarterly PAYE, or to pay outstanding bills from a care agency).
53. Local authorities should discuss with users, before direct payments begin, the circumstances in which the authority might wish to consider seeking repayment.
Discontinuing direct payments
54. Either the authority or the individual may decide at any time that they no longer wish to continue with direct payments. However, the authority should not automatically assume when problems arise that the solution is to discontinue direct payments. If the local authority does decide to withdraw direct payments then it will need to arrange the relevant services instead, unless the withdrawal was following a reassessment after which the authority concluded that the services were no longer appropriate.
55. The authority should inform people as soon as possible if it is considering discontinuing direct payments, and if appropriate give them an opportunity to demonstrate that they can continue to manage direct payments. Authorities should set a minimum period of notice which will normally be given before direct payments are discontinued, and include it in the Information to be provided to people who are considering direct payments. It may be necessary in exceptional circumstances to discontinue direct payments without giving notice. Local authorities should explain to people, before they begin to receive direct payments, the circumstances in which this might occur and discuss with them the implications this has for the arrangements that users might make.
Complaints procedure
56. Local authorities are required to operate a procedure for considering any representations (including any complaints) which are made to them with respect to the discharge of their social services functions or about any failure to discharge those functions. People who receive, or consider receiving, direct payments are entitled to have access to this procedure in the same way as anyone else for whom the social work department has a power or a duty to provide a service. It is important to ensure that people are aware of the complaints procedure, particularly when they are informed of a decision they may not welcome. People may make complaints about any action, decision or apparent failing of the local authority, but not about services which they have secured from independent providers (including people they employ directly) using direct payments. People will need to address any complaints about the services they receive to the service providers.
Resources
57. Direct payments are an alternative to community care services which would otherwise be arranged by the local authority, so local authorities which choose to offer direct payments will need to do so within their existing overall resources.
< Previous | Contents | Next >
The information contained on this WWW site is Crown Copyright but may be reproduced without formal permission or charge for personal or in-house use. Privacy and Content Disclaimer.
For general enquiries about this web site email ceu@scotland.gov.uk or fill out our online questionnaire.
