Helping you and your family stay independent in the home you love
We work alongside people who receive social care funding, NHS funding, or both, to help them meet their care needs in the way that works best for them.
Our service offers personalised support to plan and manage your own care. From handling the money to recruiting a personal assistant, our skilled advisers help you take control — setting out all the options available and finding solutions that suit your exact circumstances.
How we can help
Our advisers can support you to:
- Manage the money you receive for care and support
- Plan your own care around what matters most to you
- Recruit, employ and pay a personal assistant
- Choose a care agency that fits your needs
- Buy assistive technology
- Keep up to date with the latest advice and guidance
Whilst digital technologies underpin the service PPL provide, our team of Independent Living Advisors (ILAs) are equipped with the skills and experience necessary to get alongside each service user and understand what is important to them, empowering the individuals to make informed decisions about their personal goals.
PPL provide a flexible approach that delivers both (i) a ‘digital front door’ that has engaging and intuitive information, advice and guidance, and encourages self-service where possible; and (ii) a more traditional, person-based service delivered by our ILA team.
See our work in your area
To find out more about local services, please look at our In Your Area page
What do our team do?
Our ILAs are on hand to provide information and advice to our clients, signposting them to local services, and sources of information. Our service is typically underpinned by an online website of information, advice and guidance, that provides local and relevant information.
Using a person-centred, strengths-based approach, our team will work with our clients to help articulate their goals and aspirations and build a care and support plan that will help them achieve their outcomes.
Regular reviews are often overlooked, but are a fundamental part of our processes. Without some degree of oversight, it can be easy for an individual to veer away from the care and support defined in their care plan or for their needs to have changed over time. We make sure that regular reviews are scheduled in so that nobody falls through the cracks
It's important that Direct Payments are properly audited to ensure that health and social care funds are used responsibly. We offer a financial audit service to review spend against agreed budgets and care plans, highlighting any issues or anomalies to our Local Authority / NHS clients. Our financial audit process goes hand-in-hand with our Virtual Wallet solution, which provides rigour around spend of direct payments, while still delivering choice and control.
Our team works with our clients to help them recruit personal assistants, including help with writing job adverts, conducting interviews and helping with selection. This service is usually delivered alongside our PA Recruitment Tool, which streamlines the process of recruitment, while also stimulating the local PA market.
Being an employer brings new responsibilities and our team can work with clients to advise them on best practice or signpost them to other sources of information. We have a range of information leaflets and online advice, to help new employers get off to a strong start.
What are Direct Payments and Personal Health Budgets?
The two main areas we help with are direct payments and personal health budgets. Both are payments made to you — either by your local authority or by the NHS — so that you can arrange your own care, rather than having services arranged for you.
Direct Payments
Direct payments come from your local authority. They can be used to meet your personal care needs, and may also help with practical household tasks, social activities and getting to appointments. How you spend a direct payment must reflect what has been agreed in your social care assessment and support plan.
Personal Health Budgets
A personal health budget is funding from the NHS. It is based on a personalised care and support plan agreed between you and your local NHS team or integrated care board. It can be used to meet your health and wellbeing needs in ways the NHS would not usually arrange directly.
Key Benefits
