Our Independent Living Advice service is provided to individuals in the following areas. It is funded by these Local Authorities or NHS Organisations and is here to ensure all individuals in receipt of Personal Health Budgets (PHB) or Personal Budgets are supported:
- NHS North West London ICB
- NHS Bath, NE Somerset, Swindon and Wiltshire ICB
PPL have a team of Independent Living Advisors (ILAs) who are able to offer the support and advice, which will help you to get the most from your Personal Budget.From the earliest stages of arranging your support through to preparing for reviews and audits, the ILAs are here to help guide you through the necessary steps to help ensure your support is both safe and aligned to your individual support plan.
General support includes:
- Help understanding your budget calculator and support plan
- Liaison with case managers with any queries on your budget agreement
- Help you recruit care providers within your budget
Where are you on your journey...?
Early Days
In the early days of your PHB journey, our Independent Living Advisors will help you to understand what you need to do to get your support up and running. They can explain the steps required to ensure the support you arrange is in line with your PHB agreement and offer advice on how best to meet any statutory requirements.
6-8 Week Review
When your PHB has been up and running for 6 to 8 weeks, our Independent Living Advisors will contact you to see how things are progressing and to ensure that everything is set-up and working in line with your support plan.
Annual Review
Every year, our Independent Living Advisors will contact you to support with a review of your arrangements to check that you are happy with your agreed level of support and that the arrangements you have in place are aligned to your support plan and budget agreement.
For a step-by-step description of the service available to you, click through the drop down boxes below:
Quick Guide to Setting-Up a Personal Health Budget:
The first step on your PHB journey is a clinical assessment of your health needs. This is usually completed by a multi-disciplinary team and will result in a support plan being developed that outlines both your identified health needs and a plan as to how you intend to meet your health goals.
The support plan will be accompanied by a budget calculator that identifies the amount of funding the NHS has calculated is required to support you in achieving your health goals.
Once your support plan and budget calculator have been approved by your ICB, your case manager will create a digital referral to the PHB Support Service. That referral is sent to the team here at PPL. You don't need to do anything at this stage, we will contact you.
When a referral is received, our Independent Living Advisors (ILAs) will check to ensure we have all the information we require to properly support the setup of your Personal Health Budget on Virtual Wallet.
Our ILAs will then contact you by email or telephone to arrange a time for an initial discussion. During this conversation, the ILAs will look to understand a little more about you and your circumstances.
Independent Living Advisors can be contacted: Monday to Friday 09:00 to 17:00, excluding Public Holidays. They can be emailed ilateam@peopleplaceslives.co.uk or called on: 03300 582 693.
Following your initial discussion with our ILAs, they will understand more about how best to support you. As the PHB holder or authorised representative, you remain in control and are responsible for ensuring the support you arrange is in line with the PHB agreement you have with your funding Authority.
Our ILAs' role is to offer advice, and support you through the process of setting-up your own care arrangements. The ILAs can help you understand the elements that must be in place to ensure your support is safe and meets the requirements of the PHB agreement.
During this phase you should identify the individuals and organisations that you wish to work with.
Once you have identified the individuals or organisations that you wish to work with, the ILAs will liaise with the Virtual Wallet support team to get your support arrangements set-up in Virtual Wallet.
The ILAs will ensure that individuals and organisations are registered on Virtual wallet. Once they are registered, you will be able to review and pay for the support you receive using your Virtual Wallet account.
Once the set-up is complete, your account is ready to receive your PHB funds.
Once your account is active, your funding organisation will send the agreed amount of funding to your Virtual Wallet account.
Following the first payment, funding will be credited to your Virtual Wallet account on or around the 1st of each month.
Please be aware that it can take up to 6 weeks for the first payment to reach your Virtual Wallet account, from the date that your referral is received by the PHB support service.
Once your support providers are set-up and funding is received, your Virtual Wallet account is live and ready to use.
Welcome to your Virtual Wallet!
The Virtual Wallet support team and Independent Living Advisors can be contacted: Monday to Friday 09:00 to 17:00, excluding Public Holidays.
Virtual Wallet Support Team
- Webchat: Click the chat function in the bottom right hand side of this page
- Email:info@myvirtualwallet.co.uk
- Phone:03300 582 690
Independent Living Advice Team
- Email:ilateam@peopleplaceslives.co.uk
- Phone: 03300 582 693
