Contact: Geoff Woollan, ext 7266

1. Summary

1.1 The following decision is sought:

1.2 To extend the use of Direct Payments as a method of service delivery for
parent/carers of disabled children.

2. Reason(s)

2.1 The pilot has enabled procedures, processes and support to be developed as
well as parent/carers specifically to gain an understanding of the concept.
Demand is such that the limit of 10 is likely to be very shortly reached.

3. Other options considered and rejected

None

4. Conflicts of Interest declared by the decision-maker or a Member or
Officer consulted

None

5. Dispensation granted by the Standards Committee

None

6. Reason(s) for the matter being dealt with if urgent

None

Approved by: ......................................... Date of decision: .....................

Councillor Felicity Hindson

Contact: Geoff Woollan Ext: 7266

1. Introduction

The purpose of this report is to seek authority to extend the use of Direct
Payments for parents of disabled children beyond the initial pilot of 10 cases.

2. Background

2.1 The Carers & Disabled Children Act 2000 (Section 7) introduced the power for
local authorities to provide services to disabled children and those with parental
responsibility for them by way of Direct Payments.

2.2 The Children's Services Sub-Committee of The Social Services Committee on
18^th April 2001 agreed to initiate a pilot scheme of 10 cases using this new
power in order to gauge take-up and develop the processes of delivering Direct
Payments within the children and families sector.

3. Current Situation

3.1 Seven families (eight children as there is a set of twins) have started to use
Direct Payments to date and more are expressing an interest.

3.2 To date Direct Payments have been arranged for one disabled young person
aged 16 or 17 years and three more are actively considering it.

3.3 A detailed departmental procedure document has been developed and is to be
published. This document covers all care groups and is a development of the
previous departmental procedure which applied to adults only prior to
1^st April 2001.

3.4 A specific leaflet for carers promoting Direct Payments has been published and
distributed.

3.5 Training has been instituted for fieldwork staff within the Children & Families
sector

3.6 The Hampshire Direct Payments Website is being updated, in partnership with
the disabled people who first worked on the site, to accommodate the extension
of Direct Payments to all care groups. It is expected this work will be completed
by the autumn of 2002. However in the meantime the processes described on the
site apply to parent/carers; it is the language which has to be changed.

3.7 A contract, offered by tender, for a half-time Direct Payments Support Worker
for Carers and Parent/carers has been agreed with Carers Together in Hampshire
as the successful tenderer and the post has been filled. Demand is such,
particularly from parent/carers, it is likely that during the financial year 2002/3
this contract will have to be extended to full-time. This contract is funded from
The Carers Special Grant.

4. Conclusion

4.1 It is not possible to predict uptake of Direct Payments as it is the choice of the
parent/carer and/or the disabled child whether they wish to use this method of
service delivery.

4.2 However demand for Direct Payments within the Children & Families sector
continues and given this authority's expertise and commitment in this area plus
the measures now put in place to support the use of Direct Payments there is
little doubt that this will be a growth area.

Recommendation

1. That this authority should extend the use of Direct Payments beyond the initial
pilot of 10, as a method of service delivery for parents of disabled children, in
response to demand.

Section 100 D - Local Government Act 1972 - Background Documents

The following documents disclose facts or matters on which this report, or an important part of it, is based and has been relied upon to a material extent in the preparation of this report.

NB the list excludes:

1. Published works

2. Documents which disclose exempt or confidential information as defined in the
Act

None