Funding Your Care
Here you will find some useful information about funding your care and support package:-
Social Services Funding - If you, or a relative or friend, need help to remain living at home, you may be entitled to financial support, either from the local Council or Benefits agency. Unlike care in hospital, care at home is not always free.
To establish if you are eligible for funding, you will need to contact the Council’s Social Services department and arrange for a social worker to visit and carry out a financial needs assessment. After this, the Council will arrange for a home care provider to deliver the service. This may be another provider or Professional Carers, if you wish to request our services specifically, please inform the council of this to discuss your options.
Direct Payments - If your care is provided through the Council, then you may be entitled to service known as a direct payment. This means you receive your own funds, to spend directly on your own care and support. Some people prefer this, as it gives them full control of how they spend their funding.
To find out more about this, you will need to speak with the relevant Social Services department for more information on obtaining a Direct Payment. If more support is needed, or if there is no entitlement to financial support, then this will have to be paid for privately.
Private Funding - If you or a family member is paying for your own care and support, it is important you select a care provider that can address your wants, needs and choices, to ensure the support received is person-centred and focused on the chosen desired outcomes.
If you would like to know more about the services we can offer, please do not hesitate to contact your local branch. We can then discuss with your our prices and explain how we will invoice you for these services. Several payment options are available, such as regular direct debits or card payments over the telephone. You can also pay your invoice by electronic transfer/internet banking.
Please note : Individuals who arrange to commence a package of care but then choose to cancel it prior to the first call being completed, will be a charged a fee of £45.00. This fee accounts for the administration time spent organising and setting up the care package. This fee is required regardless of whether an assessment is completed or not by our team. Once the package has started, the regular terms and conditions contained within the cancellation clases apply. These can be found within the Service User Guide provided on assessment. Copies of our terms and conditions can also be found via PASS [our electronic care planning system], accessible by all services users and/or their nominated representative or by contacting our office.
NHS Continuing Healthcare - If you have a long term medical condition that requires substantial continuing health care at home, then you may be entitled to have your home care costs paid for by the NHS. You must be over 18 years of age and have a primary health need. This means your main need for home care and support must be due to your health. If you are assessed as needing continuing healthcare then, as with other NHS services, the care you receive will be free. Unlike social care it will not be dependent on your ability to pay.
In practice it is often difficult to judge whether a person’s need for home care and support is because they have a primary health care need. For example, many people with dementia are not eligible. The first step is to ask for an assessment by a health professional or social worker. They will using a short screening tool to see if you may qualify for NHS continuing healthcare. If this suggests you may be eligible, they will refer you for a full assessment using a decision support tool.
You and your family will be fully involved in this assessment alongside other professionals related to your health care and support. You will be able to see a copy of the decision support tool and the assessment questions that you will discuss together. You will receive a letter confirming the decision.
Full details of funding available from your local council and how to access their services, click on the links below:-
For Wirral Residents - http://www.wirral.gov.uk/health-and-social-care/adult-social-care
For Edinburgh Residents - http://www.edinburgh.gov.uk/info/20076/adults_and_older_people
Who Regulates Us
All Professional Carers services are registered with the national regulator for social care in each country in which we operate [Northwest England and Scotland]. They inspect and check the quality of our services to make sure that we provide safe and caring services that meet the requirements of the law. We are regularly inspected to ensure compliance as part of our registration requirements.
The regulators across the UK are:
- The Care Quality Commission for England
- The Care Inspectorate for Scotland
- Care and Social Services Inspectorate Wales
- Regulation and Quality Improvement Authority for Northern Ireland
A copy of our latest Care Quality Commission and Care Inspectorate reports are available by visiting your local branch, or by downloading a copy online. The links to access these reports are found below.
These reports will tell you about the quality of Professional Carers and how we are performing.
As well as being full registered to provider services with the required government regulators, we are also full members of the United Kingdom Home Care Association (UKHCA). Both of these bodies have quality standards which set out how we should provide our service.
The Live Well Directory
The Live Well Directory is a Liverpool City Region (LCR) partnership involving Liverpool, Wirral, Knowsley, Sefton, and St Helens councils.
The directory has been designed to bring together information about groups and organisations offering services to people of all ages with various needs. Leisure and social activities are also included on Live Well and we have included plenty of information on how to stay safe and well.
The Live Well Directory can be access by clicking below: