A Joint Venture?

Joint Project Between DPUN/PBUN and ILA Ltd.

Proposal:
That DPUN/PBUN look for a funding stream that would provide a series of drop-in sessions for people to come and talk to us about any issues to do with their Direct Payment or Personal Budget.

Method:
We are looking for a ‘one stop shop’ approach. Available would be an advocate, a member of DPUN and hopefully a willing volunteer to make the tea and coffee.

Discussions could be around any issue that is causing concern or giving great pleasure from your Direct Payment of Personal Budget. For those new to PB, the discussions could be around support planning, ideas on how to meet needs that do not follow truly traditional patterns, so could be creative. Or simply, you may have a problem that you would like to air with a few like minded people.

We could either talk on a group basis, or one-to-one for those that prefer, or have a problem that they are not prepared to share with a group. If it would be helpful, we could try and organise speakers, so, for example, if there were problems with finance, we could ask someone from Essex County Council finance to come and talk to us, or Essex Pass (or both!) depending on the problems raised.
We could have practical demonstrations of a piece of equipment that someone has found particularly useful, so that other people have the chance to see it.

We would like to hold these in a variety of locations across the County, particularly the areas that are currently under represented, e.g., Harwich, Braintree. The hope is that venues will be identified that may hold a future DPUN/PBUN meeting, to save everyone from coming in to Chelmsford.

Questions:
How many people would use such a service?
Where would you like to see such a meeting arranged?
Would you be prepared to contribute in any way?
What topics would you find useful to talk about?
Anything else you would like to add?
Are we completely mad to think about this and try to find money for it?!

Please post your responses to:enquiries@dpun.org

Dee Frost, DPUN/Moira Rowland, ILA – 27th October 2008

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