Penderels Trust making a difference for users of Direct Payments
Direct Payments: Making a Difference – User Survey Results
Penderels Trust is a not-for-profit organisation that provides advice and guidance to people who receive a direct payment. The trust has been supporting people with disabilities and long term health conditions to live independently for over 30 years. They have supported people in Birmingham for the last 20 years.
Earlier this year, Penderels Trust asked its customers to complete a survey about their experiences both as a direct payment user and as a user of Penderels Trust services.
The aim of the survey was to find out how direct payments had made a difference to their lives, to understand what the benefits of having a direct payment are and to determine any actual or perceived barriers to having a direct payment.
The survey was sent to customers across all their support areas, including Birmingham. Nearly 700 completed surveys were received.
The survey results show an overwhelmingly positive response from customers, both about how a direct payment has made a difference to their life (89% said having a direct payment had been a positive experience) and how they feel supported by Penderels Trust in managing their direct payment (81% said working with Penderels Trust was good).
Penderels Trust believes that direct payments offer people with disabilities the best way of leading a full and independent life. The survey has confirmed this belief. They will continue to develop their services and work with others in the social care sector to ensure direct payments are available to all who would benefit and that those who receive a direct payment are supported to manage it easily and without stress.
Chief Executive Officer, Gary Jones, said: “It is really encouraging to know we are on the right path and that the work our staff do is making a difference to the lives of thousands of people across the country”.
You can read the full survey results at
http://www.penderelstrust.org.uk/pdf/DirectPaymentUserSurveyResults.pdf
Read SP’s case study:
SP is a young man in his twenties. He has a physical disability but also suffers with severe anxiety. When we started supporting him, he would ring his independent living adviser (ILA) several times a day. Over time, his ILA gained his trust and now most of the communication is via email and less frequent.
SP wanted to recruit a personal assistant (PA) which would allow him to access activities that made him happy, like meeting his friends, going to comic shops and nightclubs. A well worded job advertisement resulted in a successful recruitment of a PA. Stephen now regularly meets up with his friends and goes out having fun.
SP called his ILA recently to ask about PA training and told her how happy he was and how brilliant his PA is.