An issue was identified back in May 2005 in relation to the operation of Independent Living Trusts which have been set up to support the use of Direct Payments. The initial response to an enquiry submitted by the Rowan Organisation to the Commission for Social Care Inspection (CSCI) appeared to suggest that any Trust involved in appointing staff (PAs) to work with and provide personal care to the direct payments recipient, would have to register as a domiciliary care agency.

We became very concerned about the implications of such a requirement and made a formal approach to CSCI and the Department of Health (DH) to discuss further.

We are pleased to say that after a series of discussions and a meeting with the DH Direct Payments Steering Group, CSCI has formally informed us that it will be advising its staff that Independent Living Trusts will not require registration.

CSCI has further added that where a direct payments support organisation is helping a person to employ PAs (including PA registers), CSCI will need to consider the nature of the help given to decide whether or not registration is required. They believe that in some cases this will be straightforward, but that in others, greater clarification is needed.

CSCI plans to explore such issues further, through consultation to help identify whether the current regulatory framework needs to change in the future.