Pooling direct payments

There may be a number of people who have similar support needs and would be interested in pooling some of their direct payments to organise joint activities or services.

Pooling funding means taking some of your direct payments and adding it to funding from one or more people to purchase a service together.

You can get more for your money by sharing the cost of activities and have the opportunity to spend more time with other people.

People thinking of working with others to manage or pool their direct payments can find out more from a toolkit produced by Disability Wales and the Wales Co-operative Centre.

David, Geth, Elin and Jo are young people with learning difficulties who know each other from college.

They all wanted to live independently but needed support to do so. In partnership with the local authority they were able to secure a shared house and joint support services.

They moved into a house together and pooled their direct payments to pay for 24 hour support that they all shared.

This example shows how young people were able to take control of how they lived their life.

Since they had similar needs and aspirations, they were able to share the support needed to live independently with their friends.

Flintshire Council has a guide to pooling funding

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