From talking with our practitioners, it has become evident to me that many of them continue to feel less confident in offering Direct Payments for citizens than they were before the pandemic. In response to these conversations, I have been developing additional support and resources to empower them to promote the choice and control benefits that come from using a Direct Payment.
I have reflected on what is causing this lack of confidence. Some key factors that I feel might be contributing are less shared learning as a result of hybrid working and practitioners believing that Direct Payments are complex to set up, preferring to use a commissioned service instead.
My fellow Direct Payment leads from across the South West of England and I meet regularly as part of the South West Direct Payments Network. This network allows us to share good practice and problem-solve together, ensuring we do all we can to improve how Direct Payments work in our respective local authorities. A recurring theme in our discussions reinforces my own view that practitioners don’t always feel equipped to offer Direct Payments. In responding to this, the Network has been working closely with Think Local Act Personal (TLAP), the National Co-production Advisory Group, and Independent Living Group.
Together, we’ve developed new free learning resources to help practitioners build confidence in using Direct Payments effectively.
What challenges did we as a Network identify?
Despite the clear benefits of Direct Payments, many practitioners lack confidence in offering them. This hesitation has been highlighted in research and discussions within the sector. Some key reasons for this include:
- Limited training and support – Practitioners often don’t receive in-depth training on Direct Payments including students.
- Complexity – Setting up a Direct Payment can feel complicated.
- Risk management concerns – Some practitioners worry about potential risks given that often care is unregulated .
- Lack of awareness and understanding – Both practitioners and the people they support may not fully understand how Direct Payments work.
- Organisational culture – It has been found that some Local Authorities favour traditional commissioned care over Direct Payments.
Tackling these challenges together
We identified that to build practitioner confidence, we need:
- Comprehensive learning resources – Clear, accessible training to help practitioners understand Direct Payments.
- Consistent messaging – It is important to have a shared understanding of what “good” looks like when using Direct Payments and to have good strategic leadership.
- Support for local training – Resources that complement in-house training rather than replacing it.
This led us to develop a set of practical, easy-to-use learning resources, including:
- Bite-sized videos explaining key topics
- Quizzes to reinforce learning
- Discussion questions for teams to explore local practice
- Links to further resources
Contributing to the national conversation
As a group our goal is simple: to create a single point of access for practitioners across the country to improve their knowledge and build confidence in offering Direct Payments.
Why does this matter?
- Consistency for people drawing on care and support – By promoting shared learning, we hope to support people to have a more consistent experience wherever they live.
- Efficiency for Local Authorities – Many councils are already financially challenged. Instead of each Local Authority developing separate training materials, we wanted to create a high-quality resource that everyone can use.
- Stronger local training – In Bristol, these resources will become a core part of our Direct Payments training. While we’ll still include locally specific elements, these materials will provide a strong foundation for learning.
What’s next?
Our work doesn’t stop here. The South West Network along with TLAP, NCAG and ILG are committed to continuing to improve how Direct Payments work for people.
We’re already exploring new webinars to tackle some of the more challenging issues.
We want to hear from practitioners, people with lived experience and local authorities about what’s working and where further support is needed.
To explore the resources, please visit the Understanding Direct Payments homepage. There’s also a button to provide feedback – and we’d love to hear your thoughts on what we’ve produced.
