Hi Ann,
Welcome to the SDS Forum and thank you for posting a query. I can see you’ve had a lot of feedback and ideas from Josh.
I wanted to highlight a couple of things if that was ok. Josh mentioned about a local Community Brokerage service and it sounds like you might have made contact with them already, which I’m sure will be really helpful. I wanted to let you know that the Scottish Government fund a local Independent SDS Information and support service in every Local Authority area of Scotland, so there might be a specific organisation that you could receive support from in your area. To find out who they are, you can either do a search on our ‘Find Help’ tool on our website here: https://www.sdsscotland.org.uk/
Alternatively, if you let me know which Local Authority area you live in I can forward on their contact details.
I also just wanted to clarify something about SDS and Option 1, direct payments. There is something called the SDS Statutory Guidance, which sets out what the legislation says and how SDS should be implemented in practise. As this is statutory, this Guidance needs to be taken into consideration by Local Authorities when they are implementing SDS. This Guidance states:
‘Duty to offer four options to the supported person
■ This applies with respect to adults, children and their families, adult carers and young carers;
■ Under the 2013 Act, the authority has a duty to offer four options to all adults, children and carers
eligible for support or provided with services. The options are intended to support the flexibility and
creativity allowed under the social welfare and wellbeing duties so that both adults and children can
exercise choice and control at the level at which they want to exercise it.’ (p.11) (my emphasis)
The Guidance also goes on to state:
‘Duty to explain the nature and effect of the four options and to signpost to other
sources of information and additional support (applies to adults, children/families, adult
carers and young carers)
■ The authority is placed under a duty to explain the nature and effect of the four options provided
under the 2013 Act as part of the assessment process. This means that the authority’s social work
function should explain what each of the four options mean, taking account of the amount of choice
and control that the supported person wants;
■ This means that the social worker should discuss with the supported person the varying degrees of
flexibility and control associated with each option, and what the different options might look like in
practice for the supported person given their circumstances, assets and circles of support;’ (p.11) (my emphasis)
The Guidance then further states:
‘The support and information provided to the person, directly by the authority or through others on
its behalf, must be impartial, balanced and well-informed. The emphasis should be on supporting the person to make an informed choice’ (p.12) (my emphasis)
So I just wanted to highlight what legal duties the Local Authority has when it comes to offering the 4 SDS Options, once you have been assessed as being eligible for funded support.
I would also add something that you mentioned Ann. If the Local Authority thinks that the person choosing a direct payment might be at some sort of risk by receiving a direct payment, or that the support they need cannot be secured via a direct payment, then they may have a legitimate reason to refuse to offer Option 1. However, I would expect them to discuss this further with you.
I hope I haven’t given you too much information. If you wanted to check the SDS Statutory Guidance yourself, you can find this here: Social Care (Self-directed Support) (Scotland) Act 2013: statutory guidance - gov.scot
There is also something called the SDS Standards which is a really helpful document that outlines the Standards that Local Authorities are working to when implementing SDS. It is much shorter and easier to read than the Statutory Guidance. You can find a copy of the SDS Standards here: Social care - self-directed support: framework of standards - gov.scot
I hope that helps and do come back to me if you’d like more information on any local support available to you.
Many thanks,
Mark
@Josh