Personal Budget – How Do YOU Use Yours??
Adults Supporting Adults – Case Study
Daphne (aged 93) is not just a client, but also a ‘raving fan’ of Adults Supporting Adult (ASA).
As a multi-resource user, she makes the absolute best of her Personal Budget and her spare time!
About Personal Budgets – You can now choose the care support you need and pay for it using money from your personal budget, which is allocated to you by the council to buy the help you need.
How it’s different to traditional ways of receiving services – Previously, if you were eligible to receive social care services from the council, your social worker would have arranged for you to receive the support you need (called a ‘care package’). For example, this may have included a visit to a day centre, transport to the centre, home care and meals-on-wheels.
By offering you a personal budget, you now have much more choice and control over how you live your life.
A typical week for Daphne…
The AHDR is a weekly activity (10-3pm) where Daphne visits Julie a care provider and companion, at her home. The two of them play games and enjoy a break from the norm.
DP takes place on Fridays for Daphne. She calls this her ‘coffee and cake day’. Sarah, a DP provider collects Daphne and they shop (and eat!) for the afternoon.
Lastly, once or twice a week Daphne attends Spritelys at Boston (see http://asaorg.co.uk/resources/spriteleys) – this is a group scenario with different activities, games and entertainment each session.
This takes just over £90 of Daphne’s personal budget for the week.
When Daphnes’ family goes on holiday, she is able to stay with Viv, a respite provider. This is a holiday in itself for Daphne who wanted to stay over during her first meeting with Viv. Her lovely home and friendly cats won Daphne over immediately.
The cost of this is £469 per week – only £127 of this is paid privately, the rest is Personal Budget.
The PB is very flexible and gives huge freedom of choice. For Daphne she uses it to ‘pick and mix’ creating varied and stimulating lifestyle; with both group and 1-2-1 companionship, both indoor and outdoor activities and also provides respite for her family during the year.
Family find this EXTREMELY useful. Breaks throughout the year allow Daphne’s’ Daughter and Son-In-Law to visit their grandchildren, enjoy short holidays and catch up with personal affairs.
The Family were able to meet providers to decide whether or not they, along with Daphne were happy with the ‘match’ provided by ASA. This gave them the peace of mind and Daphne, the independence and choice.
To get advice on personal budgets or the services available from ASA and other Companies, call 01529 416 270
