The Role of the Local Authority and ILF Scotland as Funders of Self-directed Support

There are 32 Local Authorities (councils) in Scotland and they are responsible for providing a range of public services.

The Local Authority and Self-directed Support

The Local Authority (council) is the organisation responsible for delivering Self Directed Support in their area. They have the responsibility to assess a person’s need for social care support.

If a person meets local eligibility criteria, this may result in the council offering the person further support, either by allocating money to give the person to pay for their support, or by identifying a service that the person can use.

The council has certain legal duties and responsibilities to enable them to do this.

The Local Authorities’ responsibilities for delivering Self-directed Support are described in the law. The law is called the Social Care (Self-directed Support) (Scotland) Act 2013.

The Local Authority has a duty to consider certain general principles under the Act:

Collaboration
Informed choice
Involvement
Participation
Dignity

The Local Authority has a duty to offer the 4 options of SDS when someone has been assessed as being eligible for Self-directed Support. The 4 options outline the different ways that the money made available by the Local Authority, can be paid for the support that people need.

The Independent Living Fund Scotland

Following the closure of the UK Independent Living Fund (ILF) on 30th June 2015, the Scottish Government established a new organisation, Independent Living Fund (ILF) Scotland, to administer ILF for existing recipients of the fund in Scotland.

ILF Scotland operates as a discretionary fund providing financial awards to over 2,300 disabled people in Scotland and Northern Ireland to help them live independently.

The funding recipients receive is used to purchase social care support to help them meet independent living outcomes that are important to them. Recipients are supported in their own homes and within their own communities, and the funding helps overcome barriers they might face to independent living.

Find out more about the ILF in this article: Independent Living Fund (ILF) Scotland information

Self funders or people who pay for their own care

Some people pay for the care and support they need without receiving any money from their Local Authority or ILF Scotland. They might do this because the cost of receiving support, in the form of a charge (Care Charge) that is levied by the Local Authority, is the same as the cost of purchasing the support yourself, directly from a care agency for example.

Some people might also not wish to go through the assessment process that the Local Authority uses to decide if people have eligible needs that they need to fund.

However, it is helpful for self-funders to know that everyone in Scotland who is assessed as needing support for Personal Care and Personal Support, can receive this type of service free of charge, regardless of the person’s age, income or financial position.

It might be possible that as a PA, you are employed by someone who is not funded by their Local Authority, which gives the employer greater flexibility over what support they might ask you to provide. However, the employer is still covered by the expectations of employment law in the UK.