PB project

[Luke Cardwell]

Hi all

I work for a disability charity called Choices and Rights in Hull, East Yorkshire (see choicesandrights.org.uk for more information). I am involved in heading up the pooling budgets project which involves disabiled people sharing their personal budgets/direct payments they have been assessed as needing by our local authority's social services team. By doing so, they look at a range of benefits such as flexibility, promotion of independent living, creation of peer support/networking, reduction of isolation, achieving affordability (in certain circumstances) and acting as a solution to a practical problem. For instance we have responded to a user led group who wanted to share the costs for travelling, setting up/running a social group, a social enterprise, collectively employ personal assistants, bulk buy equipment, share the cost of living together and lots of other brilliant examples of where pooling has worked well.

I wondered whether this project was of interest to you, as it is always helpful to know what is happening on a national front to establish best practice guidance and swap ideas.

Kind regards,

Luke

Luke Cardwell Choices and Rights Disability Coalition

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