The story of how direct payments have been used creatively in Hertfordshire to give people more choice and control over their support.
Herefordshire or the ‘Land of the Orchards’ as it is known due to its number of apple and pear orchards, is a beautiful rural county of England. Over a quarter of the local population is over 65 which is a higher proportion than in other areas of the Midlands, so it’s important a choice of care and support is available to people in more remote areas.
Over three years ago we were commissioned by Hertfordshire County Council to support people to develop community micro-enterprises in the local area. These micro-enterprises would offer homecare or help at home to older people and people with learning disabilities.
The work resulted in the creation of over 80 community micro-enterprises in the area that are supporting people to have a good life. These include activities such as dance and movement, homecare and supported living services, friendship services and social clubs.
A direct payment is a payment from the local authority to either the person needing support, or to someone acting on their behalf, to pay for the cost of arranging all or part of their care and support.
The Care Act 2014 gave local authorities a legal responsibility to provide individuals with a care and support plan. This includes providing a direct payment to the person if they request it. They can then choose how they want to use this payment to pay for care and support services.
Our work ensures that people who have a direct payments have a wide choice of care and support options. The community micro-enterprises that we support to get set up provide the choice and give people more control over how they want to be supported.
Our team in Hertfordshire worked closely with the direct payment support provider at the council. This ensured local people had more control of their own care and support by being able to use their direct payment in a creative way.
Often people employ a personal assistant with their direct payment, however, through developing a community micro-enterprise programme in the area, we were able to create a variety of care and support options.
Watch the story of how our Community Micro-Enterprise Development Programme supported the creation of a diverse range of services and supports.
“It’s control, it’s flexibility, it’s creativity.”
Our partnership with Hertfordshire County Council resulted in a Community Micro-Enterprise Development Programme which changed the shape of care and support in the county.
We were instrumental in market shaping – understanding the local community, identifying gaps in the market, and helping to create a diverse range of care and support services. This ensured people had choice of support and control over how they used their direct payment. It also resulted in a more sustainable market and a healthier local economy. And the work goes on to make this happen for people.
“Community Catalysts really help market shaping. They help choice, control, everything we’ve talked about with direct payments, the enterprises are at the heart of. They’re a big jigsaw piece of that.”
Interested to make this happen in your council area? Complete our contact form and we’ll get back to you.