Direct Payments and Individual Service Funds Guidance for Practitioners

Project aims

Essex County Council recognised that its social work practice guidance offer did not have comprehensive and accessible case studies regarding Direct Payments, and undertook a collaborative project to develop better quality information for social work teams.

Project description and outcomes

Self Directed Futures worked with Essex County Council to undertake desktop research around existing Direct Payment case studies, met with operational social work teams to collate and write up local anonymised examples of Direct Payments to create practice guidance showcasing the breadth of use of Direct Payments across the county. 

A series of videos and training and support modules were produced to accompany the guidance so that new social work recruits were able to access consistent training around Direct Payments.