Support packages

1. Support packages Deb Viney Diversity Advisor, SOAS Former Head of the Disability Service at the University of Southampton Support packages

2. Applying to Social Services for personal care / domestic assistance • Any student who requires personal care and / or domestic assistance needs to apply to their local, home area Social Services (not the department in the area of the University) • The basic principle is that any personal care / domestic support the disabled person would need regardless of where they are living, is funded by Social Services • The support can then be provided in a variety of ways, depending (in part) what the specific University has available. Support packages

3. Preparation Before requesting a re-assessment of your care needs from Social Services (which you will need, in plenty of time, before you go to off to University): • Ensure you are claiming all of the benefits you are entitled to in your own right (parents cannot usually claim on behalf of people over the age of 18). If not sure, get assistance from a local benefits advice service or Citizens Advice Bureau • Think carefully about everything your parents and others currently do for you – professional carers will probably need to do that in future. It may help to make a list, think about the tasks you need done every day, ones which occur regularly but less often (e.g. once a week) and those which occur infrequently. You need to ensure that all of these tasks are included in the Social Services care needs assessment. Support packages

4. The care needs assessment • Request a new care needs assessment specifically for going to University. The Disability Advisor at your chosen Uni should be able to facilitate a visit for you and the Social Worker / OT, if they are prepared to do that, it can be very helpful as they get to see how different the environment will be. • The SW/OT may need to think about any specialist equipment you may need in your study-bedroom (e.g. hospital bed or powered profiling bed, hoist, showerchair). They should also think about: • domestic assistance - weekdays & weekends (preparing and cooking food, cleaning, laundry, shopping, etc.) • personal care - daytime and nighttime (getting into / out of bed; bathing / showering; getting dressed / undressed; feeding, etc.) Support packages

5. Different models for providing care • External care agency sends carers to campus for each individual student - contract is between Social Services and Agency, University has no clear role (but can facilitate) • Much depends on the reliability of the Agency and the quality & consistency of the carers • Agency responsible for covering sick carers • University needs to ensure carers can park nearby and that they have the right identification to be on campus, etc. Support packages

6. University contracts an external agency to provide a shared care package for its disabled students and charges each student (or their Social Services) a proportion of the costs • Complex model – works well if everyone needs full 24 hour care, less so if some people have smaller care packages as it can be difficult to work out each person’s contribution • Works best if all disabled students needing care are co-located in one residence – which restricts students’ choice of location and style of accommodation Support packages

7. University directly employs a care team • Convenient for student & Social Services – but can be challenges over the costs • University HR requirements can make the employment process to slow and too rigid to cope with the relatively late confirmation of new first year students (insufficient time to advertise for carers and interview and recruit before start of term) so it can be difficult to have care in place by the start of term (but works fairly well for 2nd & 3rd years). • what happens to existing care staff if the number of disabled students needing care is lower than average one year? Support packages

8. Social Services directly employs a care team • Very uncomplicated for student and University (especially financially) • Student and University staff don’t have any control over the care team, quality of provision, etc. • Who sorts out problems with sickness absence, inappropriate behaviour by care staff etc.? • Do carers live on campus or off? If on campus Social Services should pay cost of carer’s room as part of care package. Support packages

9. Community Service Volunteers provide a care project – funded by Social Services • Volunteers likely to be similar age to student • Must have a back-up arrangement in case a volunteer walks out or is off sick • University has to provide someone prepared to supervise the CSVs (usually this is a Disability Advisor) • costs £8000 - £9000 per annum per CSV including the CSVs’ accommodation, etc. • to cover 24 hour package 4 x CSVs are needed Support packages

10. Student uses direct payments to directly employ a personal carer / team • Student has choice of person to be their carer • Student has to either take on employer responsibilities (paying tax & NI, etc.) or their package needs to include payment for a company to provide these services • Need back up arrangements in case carer goes sick • University needs to facilitate carer’s access to campus (e.g. parking space, honorary staff status) Support packages

11. An example of a blended model for 24 support package • Community Service Volunteers or University-employed support staff provide the on-campus (daytime) part of the care package along with any academic assistance [funded by the Disabled Students’ Allowances] and • care agency (or other) provide the evening / night time parts of the support [funded by Social Services]. Support packages

12. Academic support packages The DSAs will usually provide: • assistance with any additional transport costs • any necessary IT equipment • other equipment (e.g. ergonomically designed chair) • assistance with IT consumables (ink cartridges etc.) and some internet costs • “non-medical helpers” (academic support workers) Support packages

13. Academic support workers may include: • Personal assistant • Library assistant • Orientation training (visually impaired students) • Specialist one-to-one tutor (dyslexia support) • Mentor • Teacher of the Deaf sessions • Notetaker • Lipspeaker • BSL interpreter Support packages

14. Example support package for a Deaf student Some Deaf students have very extensive needs which can include: • BSL interpretation for all contact sessions • Notetaking arrangement (person or remote) • One to one support sessions with a Teacher of the Deaf In such a case it is possible that the student’s support worker costs will exceed the DSAs NMH allocation [currently £20,520 per year]. The University Disability Advisor should assist the student to identify and apply for additional sources of funding (e.g. charity funds and the institution’s Access to Learning Fund) to help with the costs. Ultimately the HE institution has some responsibility under the Equality Act (2010) for any additional costs which are not covered by other sources of funding – this does not mean it must cover absolutely all costs, an unlimited amount, but it should cover reasonable additional costs not covered by other sources. Support packages