Imaginative ways of using Direct Payments?

Hi everyone

Advice needed please!

After 6 months of waiting for my identified needs to be met by SS, and a 'nationwide shortage of carers' I am finally en route to Direct Payments - hurray! (Though it should have been offered to me from the outset, but... moving on...)

I know you're allowed to spend your DPs in creative and imaginative ways as long as they directly help to meet your identified needs, but I need some ideas please. Having a completely blank page has rendered me somewhat paralysed.

I've searched in vain for websites offering lists of things you might use your DPs for, but can't find one, or I stumble upon occasional case studies which are so far removed from my experience/conditions that they aren't really any help.

In an ideal world, what I'd really like is a chart something like this that I could choose from, as currently my brain is struggling with the wide open "As long as it meets your currently unmet need, that's OK" policy.
___________________________________________________________________
Identified Need from your C&S Plan . | . Ideas for Imaginative use of your DPs
Need 1 ..................................................... Ideas 1-20
Need 2 ..................................................... Ideas 20-40
&c
&c
___________________________________________________________________

Anyone seen anything remotely like this anywhere? I'd be grateful for some pointers.

Thanks

Raph

Hi Raph, may I suggest you contact 'Posability' magazine? Their readers would probably have lots of useful ideas. I find it quite a good read myself.
Denby

Hi BIS

They don't, sadly, hence my posting here...

Have been travelling in circles, tbh.

Morning. I think Scope has a forum; you could give that a go..