Job Description
Job Title
Support Broker (Older People and Learning Disability)
Responsible to
Support Brokerage Services Manager
Base
Home Based covering mainly Didcot, Oxfordshire
Hours
15 hours per week
Salary
Salary £15,696 - £17,664 p.a. +
Geographical Allowance £1,051 p.a. (pro rata)
Purpose of the Post
To provide Support Brokerage to older people in Oxfordshire, helping them to explore,
choose and put in place innovative care and support to enable them to live independently in
their own homes.
The majority of clients will be using a direct payment in the form of a personal budget from
Social and Community Services, the remainder will be privately funding their care.
Advance work with Older People and Learning Disability client groups so our brokers need to
be comfortable working across both client groups.
Our existing team is made up of 9 support brokers covering the whole of Oxfordshire and 1
administrator.
Task Description
Support Brokerage

Visit clients in their own homes to provide a fully flexible support brokerage services

Use various techniques to help clients identify different ways, including creative and
innovative ways they could access/enhance/ put in place appropriate support options.

Research and provide information about local services, networks and activities,
community resources and opportunities for clients and any costs.

Linking with local community development workers and local partners to identify local
resources and sources of help.

Provide information and advice about care, support and independence.

Using case management tools, assist with all aspects of support planning and
sourcing support.

Ascertain what funding may be available to the individual, in addition to their personal
budget, to help them achieve their preferred outcomes.

Provide information and advice about all aspects of receiving and managing a direct
payment to pay for care and support.
Support Broker: November 2008
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
Liaise, negotiate and help set up services with care providers.

Work closely with professionals within social and health care teams to help clients
achieve their chosen outcomes.

Where required by the individual help with the recruitment of their own personal
assistant/s e.g., advertising, conducting interviews and drawing up contracts).

Provide advice and guidance to carers and referral to carer support organisations to
assist the carer in their caring role.

Keep up to date case records, enter data into relevant monitoring systems and
provide case monitoring reports as requested.

Be an active member of the Oxfordshire Support Broker network. Provide and share
sources of information and assistance with other brokers.
Other

Attend line management, supervision and team meetings as appropriate.

Attend training as appropriate.
The above is not an exhaustive list of duties and you will be expected to perform different
tasks as necessitated by your developing role and overall objectives of the organisations.
This post is subject to a satisfactory Enhanced Criminal Records Bureau check.
Person Specification
Essential

Current driving license and the use of a car.

Sensitive and understanding approach to the needs of older people and those with
learning disabilities

Excellent communications skills and the ability to relate to people at all levels.

Confident computer skills in Word, Excel, and internet

Able to work alone and self manage work schedule.

Commitment to being an active and flexible member of a small team.

Excellent organisational and good researching skills and the ability to prioritise and
manage case work within timescales
Desirable

Knowledge of Older Peoples and Learning Disability services and opportunities in
Oxfordshire would be desirable

Some experience of working with the Older People and Learning Disabilities client group
would be beneficial.
A full training programme is provided for the role of a support broker as part of the induction
process
Support Broker Job description Nov 2009
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Job Context
Support Brokerage
Care and support from Social and Community Services is changing. Following a 2 year learning
exercise in North Oxfordshire, all adults eligible for care and support from Social and Community
Services (Social Service) now have a say over the care and support they would like to help them to stay
independent and safe in their own homes. This is known as ‘Self Directed Support’. Individuals are now
provided with an amount of money, a personal budget, which they can use to pay for the care and
support they chose to enhance their lives. Support brokers provide guidance to the individual to think
about the kind of care support and activities that they would like to have, research opportunities,
negotiate with care providers and help the individual to put in place a ‘package’ of care and support that
suits them. The support broker also helps with all the official paperwork, communication and negotiation
with Social and Community Services to assist the person move through the new system and improve
their situation.
Support Planning – helping the client to consider their choices and options along with any costs and
set these within a support plan that describes what matters most to them, what they want to achieve in
life, how they wish to improve or change their situation, any risks, and how they wish to manage their
plan and use their budget to enact these changes.
The Support Broker will encourage the person to re-discover those aspects of their lives that were
important to them and re-awaken their aspirations for a fulfilling life. This helps both the broker and
client focus their search for opportunities that could help meet the needs and aspirations that they have
identified together.
Support Sourcing – the support broker will identify options for support from the extensive information
resources at hand. The broker will actively research opportunities, care providers, local opportunities etc
on behalf of the client which they can then discuss with them to help them makes choices with what they
would like to include in their ‘package’ of support.
The broker will provide as much or as little help as is needed and within a time frame which allows
the person to move through the systems in a seamless and effective way. The support broker will
work with clients and their families and identify what areas of work they can offer to support the client
with, including helping to negotiate costs and care tasks with providers, ensuring the client
understands their responsibilities as an employer, helping to agreeing terms and contracts and
helping to set up the arrangements for managing the personal budget.
Direct Payments – the personal budget is either paid to the individual in the form of a Direct
Payment or kept by the council as a virtual budget. The use and management of direct payments are
governed by local authority policy and legislation. The Broker ensures that the individual has all the
appropriate advice, information and support to understand and take on the responsibility to
accurately account for and manage their direct payment according to the local authority policy and
legislation. For people who don’t wish to manage the financial side of the personal budget there are
support options available from the council such as a ‘managed account’.
For more information visit our web site via this link:
http://www.advancesupport.org.uk/index.asp?m=16&s=125&t=Advance+Broker+Direct, also the
Oxfordshire County Council website for Self Directed Support www.takingcontroloxon.org.uk
Advance has a contract until September 2013 with Oxfordshire County Council to provide Support
Brokerage to older people and adults, 18+, with a learning disability.
Support Broker Job description Nov 2009
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