Personal Budget Support Brokerage
Service .
Introduction.
As part of Suffolk County Council’s continuing commitment to offering personalised
services to children and young people with additional needs and their families,
Suffolk County Council have asked Scope to consider brokering personal budget
support providers as from January 2015. This would replace the existing contracted
provider whose contract will expire on 31st December 2014. The service will initially
replicate current personal budget support services available in Suffolk with scope to
develop and expand in line with SEND reforms and the roll out of personal budgets
available to purchase Education, Health and Social Care Services as from
September 2014.
Aims.
The brokerage will work with providers who are able to offer high quality services to
give Suffolk families and young disabled people, choice and control over their
personal budget. The overarching outcome of the service will be to ensure
information is provided in a simple, clear and transparent manner to enable families
to make fully informed decisions about the support service most suited to meet their
needs.
The support will include payroll services, managed (supported) accounts and
recruitment services as detailed below. The overall aim of helping families and the
Local Authority to achieve outcomes, underpinned by new national guidance and
government legislation such as “Think Personal Act Local”, “Support and Aspiration,
(a new approach for SEN and disabilities)” .and more recently “The SEND Code OF
Practice Section 7.12 Personal budget”.
Services would be expected to provide support with some or all of the following
features:Initial Recruitment
Advertising, job description,
application packs, job offer
letters, third party address for
applicants, shortlisting
applicants, arranging and
holding interviews, successful
candidate letters, pay rates
advice.
Advice on employment law and
responsibilities.
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Payroll
Act as Payroll agent for
Customer.
Calculate pay (inc all statutory
payments)
Provide payslips to each
employee.
Calculate and pay quarterly or
monthly payment to HMRC.
Process end of year payments
to HMRC.
Liaise with HMRC re P45/46/tax
etc.
Electronic transfer of wages.
Managed Accounts
Set up a bank account on behalf
of Customer.
Authorise and make payments.
Process invoices.
Record
and
evidence
expenditure.
Provide funding body with
regular
statements
as
requested.
Processing timesheets.
Close payroll if an employment
comes to an end.
Provide option to make
emergency payments for
additional staffing at short
notice.
Support with pension auto
enrolment which may include
liaising with pension providers
and administration/payment
process’s.
Employment Set Up
DBS checks and employee
references.
Employment Contract.
Registering with HMRC as an
employer and/or acting on
behalf of Customer.
Advise on options for Employers
liability insurance.
Registration of employee onto
payroll.
Provide timesheets.
Independent Payroll Support.
Offer support and advice to
Customers who may wish to pay
Personal Assistants directly.
Training.
Advise Customer on legal
obligations as an employer to
provider training and PPE.
Signpost Customer to relevant
training organisations.
Deliver
direct
training
to
Personal Assistants.
Ongoing Support.
Re-recruitment.
End
of
service
processes.
Changes to contract.
DBS renewals
Payroll issues/errors...
Additional Services.
Ongoing employment support concerning management of performance issues will be
offered by an independent source to reduce the risk of any conflict with the brokerage
providers. Providers will signpost the family back to the brokerage if this occurs.
Quality and Monitoring.
Providers who wish to promote their services via the brokerage will be expected to
meet an initial minimum standard by completing an Activities Unlimited approval
form. This will lay out basic requirements to ensure compliance with local and
national policies and procedures relevant to:Equality and Diversity
Health and Safety
Safeguarding
Comments and Complaints
Data Protection
Liability Insurances
Financial safeguards
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The brokerage will work to develop a due diligence process to ensure compliance to
National Minimum Standards.
In addition providers will be asked to evidence they are operating within relevant
legislation issued by:The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA)
Her Majesty Revenue and Customs (HMRC)
Government guidance/relevant legislation, good practice indicators and local
strategies with particular relevance to the management of personal budget.
Monitoring.
The brokerage will work with providers to measure and review the efficiency of the
new model.
Information will be requested from providers on a quarterly basis which will inform
Suffolk County Council of the following:Numbers of new customers and type of services delivered.
Ethnic origins
Age range
Geographical locations of service users
Referral sources
Comments and Complaints regarding Suffolk service users
Service terminations
Financial breakdown – Cost to Suffolk County Council
Eligibility.
The brokerage service will be available to any family with a child, up to the age of 18
with additional needs living in Suffolk who is in receipt of a personal budget.
Marketing and Stakeholder Engagement...
The service will be promoted via the Access Unlimited website, E-news and social
media, where families and professionals will also be able to view information and
guidance about personal budgets. This will include such information as how to
access a personal budget, what it can be used for and support available to assist
families to manage a personal budget. Awareness raising will also be delivered
through the service networks and via a consultant employed by the brokerage to
educate and inform professionals about personal budgets.
Following a soft launch in January 2015 a number of market events will be held in
each key area of the County arranged by Scope in partnership with Suffolk County
Council
The key aim of the events will be:
To engage with stakeholders, i.e. families, young disabled people,
professionals and providers about the service.
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
To further position the service for the roll out of SEND personal budget

To identify any strengths and areas of development to aid continuous quality
improvement.

To develop a Memorandum of Understanding which will encourage ownership
for key stakeholders.

To raise awareness and market the service.
Roles and Responsibilities
This project will be initially led by the Brokerage Service Manager, supported by
Team Leaders, a nominated representative from Suffolk County Council and
nominated members of the Scope and SCC Business Support teams.
The role of the Suffolk County Council representative is to support any query which
includes decision making out of the remit of Scope.
The role of the Service Manager and Team Leaders is to support on query and
development of policy and data monitoring.
The role of the Nominated Business Support Staff will be to act to offer initial
information and advice, on request, to families (or to professionals acting on their
behalf) who have received confirmation of a personal budget. This will include such
information as to what the role of the brokerage is, what the personal budget can be
used for, the support available to assist families to manage a personal budget,
advising them about the directory of providers available on the website and initial
liaison with providers for any queries relating to supporting the decision making
process. They will act as Personal Budget Champions within their service and will
receive regular training and updates from in control which will inform their work.
Information Sharing.
The providers will have in place consent to share information forms which meet
requirements of the data protection act 1998.
Suffolk County Council will have in place clear information which is made available to
families at point of referral regarding who their information will be shared with and for
what purpose.
Conclusion
This service model is subject to change as processes and systems develop. The
brokerage will work in partnership with stakeholders to ensure engagement of all
parties to achieve best outcomes.
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Personal Budget Support Process.
Initial Assessment and Referral.
1. Initial Assessment
Once a personal budget has been allocated the Assessor , ie Social Worker, Family
Support Worker, will complete parts 1 to 6 of the Personal Budget Direct Payment
Support Referral Form. (app 1) with the family. This will identify the tasks the family
require to employ a Personal Assistant or to manage their personal budget with the
support of a provider and the level of support the family will need to assist them to do
this. The Assessor will use the Matrix of Recruitment and Support Packages (app 2)
and Support flowchart (app 3) to help assess which level of support option is most
suited to the family. The Assessor will then send the referral form to the Brokerage
as detailed on the form.. For any new agreements the Assessor will need to also
send the Direct Payment Agreement –formally Part B.(app 4). If the family do not
want direct contact with the Brokerage the Assessor will need to let the Brokerage
know at this point.
2. Brokerage Referral
The Broker will log the referral, check all sections are complete using a check list,
check if the child/young person is an AU member and will then complete the Provider
Quote and Agreement form, (app 5) sections 1 and 2 and include the indicative
amount offered using the matrix costing tool (app 6 ) (considering any additional
costs not included in the averages detailed on the matrix) The brokerage will send
the Provider Quote and Agreement form to the identified provider(s) and ask them to
complete sections 3 and 4 which detail their suggested offer for the indicative
amount.
3. Consent to Share information.
On receipt of the referral the brokerage will check to see if the family are registered
with AU in which case the family will have already given consent to share
information. If the family are not registered with AU the brokerage cannot share the
referral form with providers until they have received a copy containing the relevant
signature. In either case the Assessor should always obtain a signature from the
main parent/carer.
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4. Decision
Once the providers have returned their quotes the brokerage will contact the
Assessor/Family and offer information about what the providers are suggesting and
support the decision making process by offering information and guidance. Once a
decision has been made the brokerage will explain the next part of the process, i.e
that the chosen provider will be in touch and that the broker will contact the family in
4 weeks to monitor how things are going. The family will be given information about
what to do if they have a query or are not happy with the provider at any point during
initial contact and set up. They will be given the option of liaising with the Brokerage
via another professional i.e their Assessor if they so wish to do so.
5. Provider Referral
The Brokerage will then liaise with the chosen provider and forward the referral form
to them. The Provider will then follow their own processes for contacting the family
and carrying out their initial assessment. Following this they will let the Broker know
if the indicative offer is now confirmed and the broker will complete the Provider
Quote and Agreement form, sections 5,7 and 8 and forward to the Provider and
Assessor.. If re-negotiation is required following the providers assesment then the
Broker will also complete section 6.
6. Bank Details.
The final section of the Provider Quote and Agreement Form, sections 7 and 8 will be
complete once the service and bank account details confirmed by the family, provider
or Assessor. (this will depend on individual circumstances). This will be completed
by the Broker and passed to the Business Support Team for the payments to be
processed.
7. Follow Up.
After 4 weeks of completion of the referral the Broker will contact the family to check
that they are happy with progress and that the family have a clear understanding of
the service being provided to them. This information will be logged for monitoring
purposes.
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