SCIL has been contracted by Hampshire County Council (HCC) to provide a Direct Payments Support Service for many years to provide information, advice and support for Direct Payments Users in Hampshire.

Direct Payments users will shortly be receiving a letter from Hampshire Adult Services informing users that the Direct Payments Support Service in Hampshire will end on the 31^st December 2011.

From January 2012, the Direct Payments Support Service  in Hampshire will be replaced by a system which allows the individual to choose what support they need from the organisation that best suits them.

Your Direct Payments will still continue to paid into your bank account as normal.

SCIL will provide as much support as necessary to users until the 31^st December 2011 however from the 1^st January 2012 we will be unable to offer users any free ongoing support with managing your personal budget/direct payment, if you live in Hampshire.

Direct Payments users living in Southampton are unaffected by any of these changes and will still be able to receive support from the Direct Payments Support Workers and access the PA register  as normal.

Direct Payments users in Hampshire who require ongoing support, to manage your Direct Payments / Personal Budget, after 31^st December 2011, will need to contact Hampshire Adult Services to request additional funding on top of your Direct Payments / Personal Budget. This can then be used to purchase the support from either SCIL or another provider of your choice.

For details of the support services that you can purchase from SCIL you can download a leaflet here Indpendent Living Advice Leaflet

SCIL will still continue to run Personal Budgets/Direct Payments Peer Support groups in Hampshire for free. 

In the coming months we will be looking at ways to provide continued support for Direct Payments users in Hampshire, but any service we provide for support with personal budgets/direct payments (with the exception of Peer Support Groups) is likely to be a service that individual Direct Payments users will have to pay SCIL directly for, from their personal budget/Direct Payments funding. Please contact us if you are interested in this service.

We are very aware that you may have some questions regarding these changes. The telephone number is 023 8033 0982. If you leave a message outside these hours, we will get back to you the following day.You can also email directpayments@southamptoncil.co.uk

You can hear Robert Droy, Independent Living Team Manager, discussing the changes on the audio player below.