SS15 40 - Direct Payment Support Service

Kent County Council (the council) is the largest county council in England covering an area of 3,500 square kilometres. It has an annual expenditure of over £900m on goods and services and a population of 1.3m.

The Council provides a wide range of personal and strategic services on behalf of its residents, operating in partnership with 12 district councils and 289 parish/town councils. The Contractor will be required to provide a service that supports the Council's business objective of empowering families with a disabled child and young disabled adults to be in control of the support that they receive.

This will be achieved by the provision of a service that will enable the following groups to establish and manage a direct payment: Parents and carers of disabled children; Parents and carers of children with special educational needs; Young people aged 16-25 years of age with special educational needs; and Young disabled people aged 16-25 years of age. The service will support direct payment recipients with financial management, helping to ensure that payments are managed in such a way as to ensure that defined care needs are able to be purchased.

This will be achieved by the monitoring of expenditure by recipients to confirm that payments are being used appropriately. The service will help to minimise financial risk to the Council by alerting the Council to any unused or misused payments.

The Council has commissioned a pre-paid card provider to enable those in receipt of direct payment to pay for services using a pre-paid card instead of a bank account, and the contractor will support the transitioning of current bank accounts to a pre-paid card, as well as the setting up of new pre-paid card accounts for new direct payments. Many direct payment users employ one or more personal assistants, and the contractor will provide support with recruitment and advise on aspects of employment law to help ensure that good employment practices are followed by the employer. For more details, please 'Register an Interest' in this opportunity via the Kent Business Portal to access the full specification of this service.