Direct Payment Support Service

The proposal is to provide external commission of a Direct Payment Support Service for people to receive accurate and specialist advice on managing Direct Payments and employment responsibilities. The procurement will be a 2-year provision (with option to extend) while further exploration of long-term Direct Payment support solutions is considered. During this interim period a full options appraisal will be undertaken to explore the longer-term solution for Direct Payment support. The options appraisal will be co-produced and explore options such as creating an in-house support option, continuing with a procured service, building a community-based user-led consortium, and creating a free-market of several providers.