You can get a personalised support service for things like:
- recruiting and employing a personal assistant through your direct payments
- paying your personal assistant
- spending your money on activities you would like to do, for example, music therapy or horse riding
Organisations that offer personalised support services
Here are specific organisations that can help with the following:
Direct payments
A direct payment is money given directly to you from your Personal Budget. You can then make more decisions about how it's spent.
You can ask the following organisations for help with direct payments:
- Bedford Citizens Housing Association
- Community Life Choices
- FirstCare
- The Disability Resource Centre
- Together for Mental Wellbeing
Payroll services
Most people will need some kind of payroll service if they employ their own personal assistant to make sure they are paid properly. It could be things like putting money into bank accounts, handing out payslips or working out tax. You can ask the following organisations about paying your personal assistant:
- Bedford Citizens Housing Association
- Community Life Choices
- The Disability Resource Centre
- Enham
- FirstCare
- PayPacket
Holding account
These organisations provide a ‘holding account’ for people who lack the capacity to manage their personal budget and no other suitable person is available to support them:
Support planning and brokerage
This is about creating a plan on how you are going to spend your personal budget. These organisations can help you with that:
Community inclusion
You can choose a range of activities that you enjoy doing, learn new things or gain skills you have an interest in. These organisations can help you find ways to be a part of your local community:
