Penderels Trust is a not-for-profit organisation that supports people with disabilities and long term health conditions to live independently. Our vision is for a world where disabled people can just get on with their lives. One example of how we enable this is through supporting them with purchasing their care.
Most of the people we work with receive a direct payment (a sum of money from their local authority) to purchase their care and support package. A direct payment puts the individual in control of how they receive their care but can be tricky to organise. We work with the individual to help them manage the process and to negotiate the sometimes complex systems that can act as a barrier to choosing a direct payment - even if it is the best solution for them.
With headquarters in Coventry, we support over 15,000 individuals and have a staff team of 200 people in 6 offices across the country. Most of our work is delivered under contract to the local authority or NHS.
At Penderels Trust, we believe that anyone in receipt of care and support should be able to decide for themselves how that support is delivered and to have the same opportunities in life that everyone else has. The ability to purchase care and support via a direct payment is something that is at the heart of personalisation of care. Individuals who are in control of their own care can achieve a better quality of support and life outcomes by almost all measurable standards.
As the largest national provider of this kind of support, we are committed to being seen as experts in this field. We support around 15,000 direct payment users each year and process payroll for around 16,000 of their employees. We have 6 offices across England and employ 200 staff.
We work in partnership with 38 local authorities and 17 NHS Integrated Care Boards (formerly Clinical Commissioning Groups).
Our service is to provide advice and guidance to direct payment recipients to support them to use their direct payment to achieve the outcomes in their support plan. This includes support to get started, support to recruit their own personal assistant and be a good and legal employer including the provision of a payroll service, support to choose and use a care agency and keeping accurate records.
As well as providing direct payment support, our service has expanded over recent years to include appointeeships where we manage the benefits of people unable to do so themselves. We are Corporate Appointee for over 200 individuals. We also provide 'lighter touch' money management services for people who are able to manage their own personal finances but need a bit of support to do so.
Our support is delivered through teams of locally based independent living advisers. Our ethos is to 'do with' rather than 'do for' and we will encourage individuals to be as independent as they can be with the peace of mind that support is available should they need it.
