SDS Option 1 spend for items not covered by ‘adaptions guidance‘

Legislation & Guidance
1

Hi folks,

I’ve been pulled up by my council for making a £5.25 spend on a daily living aid from Boots that meets an agreed need.

I’ve cut out some of the email as it’s quite personal to me, but in summary there’s no disagreement that the item meets my needs and outcomes, the issue is purely around my budget being used for this.

The email reads;

“Our adaptation guidelines state; ‘We do not provide small equipment which are widely available to purchase.’ Our guidelines are based on based on the recommendations made in the Scottish Government ‘Guidance on the Provision of Equipment and Adaptations’, which is a statutory guidance under the Public Bodies (Joint Working) (Scotland) Act 2014.”

My perspective of this is that their adaptation guidelines and the Guidance on the Provision of Equipment and Adaptations is irrelevant, here. No additional budget is requested, no service is being provided, this is purely using my budget to meet the agreed needs. There’s no upkeep considerations to make, either.

I suppose my simple question is, do you think I’m missing something here?

All views welcome!

2

I doubt you are missing anything. Their own ‘adaptation guidelines’ do not trump statutory guidance. The relevant statutory guidance for your situation is the guidance to the Social Care (Self Directed Support) (Scotland) Act 2013, and that guidance says you can purchase items instrumental in meeting your agreed outcomes. Even if the Provision of Equipment and Adaptations guidance was relevant, it talks about the value of equipment and adaptations in meeting people’s needs, not restricting access to only those bits of equipment that are large and not easily available to purchase (as far as I can see anyway - but there may be a part they are thinking of. I’ve only glanced at it.) I don’t understand why they are citing this guidance. It sounds totally irrelevant. Maybe it would be worth asking them which bit of the guidance they are thinking of.

You could just quote page 19 of the SDS Statutory Guidance at them:

"Flexible use of direct payments: the choices available to a supported person under a direct payment

As set out in the section on funding and flexibility, the authority should take steps to ensure that the supported person can use their direct payment in any way, provided that the support purchased via the payment is in line with the assessment and support plan, meets the supported person’s needs and is within the criminal and civil law.

Typically, direct payments have been understood as a route to employing a personal assistant. However, a direct payment can also be used to purchase a wide range of things. For instance:
■ a service from the local authority or from another local authority;
■ a service from a provider organisation in either the voluntary or private sector;
■ a product which can help to meet the supported person‘s needs;
■ a short break; and
■ anything else which will help to meet the supported person‘s needs and the outcomes in the support plan.
The 2014 SDS Regulations provide additional safeguards in relation to the direct payments – both for the authority and for the supported person. This is to recognise the unique nature of a direct payment and to support practitioners and individuals when choosing the direct payment option."