DEVON County Council is running a series of events to promote Direct Payments as an alternative way of meeting people's social care needs, with the Tavistock event taking place on Thursday, May 22. Direct Payments is a process whereby people over the age of 18 who are eligible for social care through the county council receive the monetary value of the cost of their care and use that money to manage their own care arrangements. A council spokesperson said that as an alternative to receiving care services arranged by the county council, the payments gave people flexibility, choice and control over who provided their care, how it was provided, where and when. 'Over the last two years the number of people choosing Direct Payments in Devon has rocketed. From less than one hundred people, now, around 1,500 people have chosen to make their own care arrangements,' he said. The Tavistock event will open at 10am and run until 12.30pm with the chance to discuss with the Direct Payment team what you want to do.
