Hi.
I was wondering if anyone could clarify what funding is given by LA for overnight hours on an SDS option 2? At the moment, during the day, we get £20.31 an hour (NHSH) on option 2, but it looks like we are being given the equivalent of £13.75 an hour. Is this right, or should it be £20.31 for the full 24 hours? TIA
Hi Eilidh,
The minimum rate that must be paid is £10.90 per hour, but the amount that is actually paid will vary between different LA/HSCPs. Also, the overnight payment rate may depend on whether the support worker(s) need to be awake or not. In Perth and Kinross, there is a fixed sleepover rate for PAs under Option 1, which works out as less per hour, but the normal hourly rate would apply if the PA needed to be awake (I think this is the case). I’m not an expert so hopefully someone else on the forum will be able to give you a better answer. Your LA and/or Option 2 provider should really be able to clarify this.
Justin
Its complicated: basically your LA will try to pay the least they can. However, if you employ staff directly under Option 1, they have to allow extra for national insurance, holidays, sick leave and the rest, and thats why we went down this road. The beauty of it is that we can always do a shift ourselves, as we do most weekends, and use that extra money to pay our staff above the minimum rate, meaning we can beat the rest and get the best staff around. We pay our staff £12 an hour, day and night, and extra for our senior practitioner, who also does some of the admin on our behalf,