Do you live in Bury and have an individual budget? If so, a brokerage service can help you to determine how best to manage your own support.
Working with Bury Metropolitan Council, we have developed a service that provides brokerage, information and guidance for adults with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD) who manage their own support.
Sara Crookdake, the NAS Project Officer in Bury, will:
- undertake individual support planning
- tell people about the support they can get
- access (and negotiate where necessary) funding
- set up systems to help people manage individual budgets.
Employing a personal assistant
Some people who have individual budgets employ a personal assistant. The brokerage service in Bury can give you information about:
- recruiting personal assistants
- staffing issues and employment law.
A new 'brokers' toolkit'
Bury Brokerage will also be developing a 'brokers' toolkit' which will tell people about the range of support services that are available locally, including:
- what services are available
- what the services cost
- quality assurance information, for example who the service is registered with, or any service delivery awards it has received.
We hope that the brokers' toolkit will help people with an ASD to make informed choices about the support they choose to pay for.
Using the brokerage service
You can be referred to the brokerage service by Bury Metropolitan Council. Find out more from Bury Council - contact details can be found at www.bury.gov.uk
A broker can arrange to meet you in your own home, in community facilities, or in an office at Bury Metropolitan Council.