Independent Service Agreement with and Agency

[bobmc]

Good afternoon everyone,

I am currently in the process of setting up a Personal Health Budget (PHB) and have been advised that I will need to provide a new agreement to my Agency. Does anyone know of a source where I might find a Template for such an agreement? We are currently funded by the NHS and until now they have dealt with all the financial matters. I've spoken at length to CHC and the CCG and no-one seems to know where I can find such a template - very frustrating!

I would be very grateful for any guidance.

Kind regards
Bob

 

[bobmc]

Hi. Won't the agency be able to provide it?

Hi, thanks for your response. I assumed that I would have to supply an agreement as they will be working for me and abiding by my requirements (hopefully ).

 

[Louise7]

Care agencies have their own service user agreements/contracts. You will need to be clear about what your requirements are and when you have found an agency that can meet those they should provide you with a contract/agreement to sign which should include details of the service they will be providing.

Although they will be working for you it doesn't mean that you have to provide the contract/agreement yourself. You would have to provide one if you were employing a self-employed carer(s) privately but if you are going through an agency they will sort this out.

 

[bobmc]

Thanks for the information, I was reluctant to contact the agency initially as I thought that they might ‘tinker’ with the terms. Maybe I’m being paranoid .

 

[Louise7]

Well it depends on what the 'terms' are. You will know what the specific care needs are and how much money you have to spend on this care so you can be clear about what you need from them. From experience with care agencies you may have to allow an element of flexibility. For example if you want carers to attend at a very specific time then the agency may not be able to agree to that but could maybe agree to attend within a half hour time slot. If you want to have the same carers all of the time then this may be difficult, bearing in mind leave, sickness etc. It will all depend on how well staffed they are and how many other people they have on their books. I would suggest that you are clear about what you want but also be flexible where you can otherwise finding an agency that can meet stringent/inflexible requirements might not be easy.