|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
You are here: info > deafblind guidance |
||
|
|
|
|
 |
 |
||||||||||||||
|
Find Your Local Direct Payments Support Service
Yes To Access March 1999 Photos
Need a chat about this? Join the usherlife egroup and the egroup members will be more than happy to answer any of your questions.
Help & advice Sense Deafblind Rights Team: 0845 127 0060 Tel 0845 127 0061 Fax 0845 127 0062 Text |
||||||||||||||||
1. What is the Deafblind Guidance? The Deafblind Guidance is a statutory requirement in which the local authorities in England and Wales must make support provisions for the deafblind people.
The guidance applies to anyone who has a combined hearing and sight loss, which results in problems with getting around, communication and access to information. So even if you don’t think of yourself as deafblind, you can benefit from this guidance.
You will be assessed for your support needs and this will include the need for support personnel (such as communicator-guides) to help you with a variety of things such as:
There are two service options for you to choose:
Yes, you do. Tell them that you want to be have a specialist assessment under the Deafblind Guidance. If they do not understand what the Deafblind Guidance is, ask them to visit this webpage and click on the links on the right for further information and factsheets.
Because of the law, they cannot refuse your request for an assessment (see 6) for whatever excuses they may come up with such as "We've not got enough funds." It is your right to have the assessment. If your social services still say no, then contact Sense's Campaigns Team (see Help & Advice on the right) for advice.
You will be assessed by your social services for your needs. You need to tell them why you need support for reasons such as already explained in (3). You need to be honest about yourself and your support needs in order to achieve the best possible assessment. Your social services advisor will explain the procedure.
This depends on the assessment as each local authority has an eligibility criteria. Your needs are assessed in four areas of equal importance:
This recognises that people have a need for leisure activities and social involvement, and your health and safety do not have to be at risk before you get help. Don’t forget that if your situation changes you may need a new assessment. This could be because your vision has changed so that you need more support. It could also be because a friend or relative who used to provide support is no longer able to do so.
If you choose this option, you will have the time, control and be flexible with your support needs rather than using an agency, which may work on inflexible time schedules which may not suit your needs. Using this option, you will be required to set up a second current account with your bank/building society to keep things separate from your personal bank accounts. You will have the chequebook or by online banking to pay your support personnel after receiving their invoices and your local authority's Finance Department (via your social services) will provide you with a quarterly log sheet in which you must log in for each payment. Ask your council about the systems they use locally.
Anyone you like within reason (do check with your social services about this first) such as friends, relatives, trained support workers, trained communicator/guides, BSL interpreters, (though be aware that if it is a hospital appointment, the NHS should book and pay for.
No this is generally not possible, however, sometimes there are exceptional circumstances for families and friends living in the same household for cultural" reasons such as Deaf / BSL culture, Asian, religion, etc. Discuss this with your social services.
This will depend a lot on your assessment with the social services and their budget and they will determine how much time and money a week you need as it varies considerably on each local authority. The amount must be enough to meet your assessed needs. If you are unhappy with what they had decided, challenge them or make an appeal.
Although it is primarily used to pay for the wages of your support personnel, each local authority may have different policies about whether travel and accommodation costs can be covered. If not, you will have to pay the costs yourself from your DLA or share costs with your support personnel. However, the direct payments should cover all the reasonable costs involved in employing people such as recruitment costs, insurance, sick and maternity pay and National Insurance. Discuss this with your social services.
No. it does NOT cover support in employment as you can use Access To Work to help with your access needs at work. Contact your local Employment Services (at your local Job Centre) for advice.
No it won't. Direct payments are not considered as income.
Get in touch with your social services and request an assessment under the Deafblind Guidance! |
||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
||||||||||
|
||
|
|
|