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What is direct payment?
Direct Payments give you the opportunity to make more of the decisions, which affect your life and be in control of your own care arrangements.
Find out more about what is a direct payment
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How we can help?
and view our PA Register
DAD provides a comprehensive, high quality direct payments support service which is highly valued by the people who receive support. As a local disability user led organisation we provide responsive, friendly and approachable support.
Find out more about how we can help
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Being an employer
Becoming an employer and employing your own staff directly usually gives you the most control over your assistance, but it also gives you responsibilities under the law.
Find out more about being an employer
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What is a Personal Assistant?
and apply for PA Register
A PA is a personal assistant/support worker who provides assistance to a disabled person in day-to-day living. There is no one single job description, as no person’s needs are the same.
Find out more about What is a Personal Assistant
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PA Vacancies
For Personal Assistant vacancies please follow the find out more link below.
Find out more about Personal Assistant vacancies
Direct Payment Support Service supporting people across the regions
Are you living in Darlington, Co Durham or Redcar and Cleveland? DAD can provide a range of high quality support to help you manage your Direct Payment. We will work with your social worker to determine the level of support you need.
For those who privately fund their support, or use a Personal Health Budget, we will work with you to determine the support you need and create a tailored service.
- Click here for support in Darlington
- Click here for support in Redcar and Cleveland
- Click here for support in County Durham
If you don’t live in one of those regions please contact us.
Our Services Include
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Help starting up
DAD helps people to get their direct payments up and running, by providing support, information and advice. This includes information on how the process works, understanding your employer responsibilities, monitoring information required, and help recruiting.
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Payroll service
We provide a comprehensive and inclusive payroll service. This includes a reminder call each month when your payroll is due; information to deal with any queries, a 4-week payroll service which calculates tax, national insurance, and payslips and help setting up a pension scheme for your PA.
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On-going support
Once you are up and running with your direct payment, there may be times when you need a bit of support, information and advice. We are here to help your direct payment journey run as smoothly as possible.
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Vetting Service
We can provide a full pre-employment vetting service on your behalf, which includes the recommended checks when employing staff, including references and Disclosure and Barring Service Check (DBS).
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Managed Accounts
This direct payment support service can help take away the worries and stress of managing the financial aspect. All the funding from an individual’s support plan is received by DAD into an account which is for the sole purpose of your direct payment/funding.
Are you a Personal Assistant looking for work?
Do you want to join our PA Register?
Direct payments explained...in 6 easy steps
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Your social worker/care manager should discuss the option of getting Direct Payments with you when you go through your supported self assessment questionnaire. If they don’t, or if you are already receiving services, you can ask about using Direct Payments or get in contact with the DAD Direct Payment Support Service.
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Once it is established that you are eligible and you are creating your support plan DAD can give you initial information and advice on how Direct Payments work. Your social worker/care manager can refer you to the DAD Direct Payment Support Service or you can contact us directly. You will be assigned a Independent Living Advisor/Lead Worker who will meet with you to further explain Direct Payments and give you relevant information to make sure you understand how the process works.
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If you decide you want to use a Direct Payment your care manager/co-coordinator will discuss what support you may need both to get started and on an on-going basis. Extra funding will be included in your Direct Payment to cover the cost of this support.
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If you are using DAD’s support we will work with you and your care manager/co-ordinator to agree a start date, support you to open a bank account and sort out the relevant paperwork. If you are looking to employ your own personal assistant’s we will offer support to advertise, recruit and set up payroll.
We will also support you to understand what documents you need to keep which will be required by the local authority for monitoring purposes. Each Direct Payment user has a named Lead Worker, who has knowledge of their Direct Payment and how it is being used. This gives consistency of support.
Please visit Becoming an employer.
Alternatively you can go on to set up your Direct Payment without DAD’s support, you will need to contact your Care Manager for further guidance.
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A start date is agreed with your social worker/care manager and when everything is set up your Direct Payment will go into your account every 4 weeks/or other agreed interval. As part of the agreement to use a Direct Payment you will be required to submit quarterly monitoring information. Please refer to fact sheet 2 - What documents you need to keep.
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Use your Direct Payment to meet your needs, knowing that help and advice is a phone call away.
Please visit DAD’s Direct Payment Support Service fact sheets.