- Richmond Council pursue battle against illegal moorings
- New Dog Control Order to be introduced
- Your Life Expo
- Packed Hall To Discuss Cows
- Bank holiday refuse collections a day later
- Go local for the Jubilee
- The Olympic countdown continues
- Clamping down on irresponsible dog walkers
- 600 residents have their say about highway and pavement repairs
- Financial choice and control with new prepaid card
- Seeking local community interest in green space
- Mayor commits more money to Twickenham Station
- Cabinet Agrees New Catholic Secondary School
- Visit Richmond Reaches Far And Wide
- Food Businesses Commit To Healthier Takeaways
- Get paid to downsize
- Poll rejects new youth centre for Twickenham
- Successful RISE event
- Council takes measures to tackle toxic caterpillars
Release Date: 25/05/2011
Financial choice and control with new prepaid card
Residents who receive direct payments from the Council are being encouraged to ‘have their say’ on the introduction of a new hassle-free option of receiving their payments for care and support.
A three week long consultation and a series of briefings, organised by Richmond Council, will start on 8 June, 2012. If agreed, the prepaid card, which has similar features to a standard debit card, will be offered to residents and provided directly by the Council, saving people from having to open a new bank account for their payments. The main aim of the card is to make the process of signing up, managing and receiving payments easier and fuss free. The card will still offer the same amount of freedom over which organisations people prefer to purchase their care services from.
Cllr Nicola Urquhart, Cabinet Member for Adults Services, Health and Housing said, “I would like to encourage residents to come along to the briefings and find out more about the benefits of the prepaid card. The introduction of prepaid cards is a great leap forward in making direct payments easier and more accessible to residents. It will mean much less waiting time for those who are ready to move on to direct payments and will reduce the hassle of having to open up an additional bank account, which for some people can prove to be quite stressful.
“The whole point of moving to this system is to make managing a direct payment easier and I must emphasise that we have really done the research into this and learnt from other local authorities who have done the same. Personal budgets and direct payments are all about keeping people independent and providing the freedom for them to choose the services they prefer – these cards are not about taking that away, but rather adding to it.”
Consultation will be open from 8 June to 29 June 2012
Briefings will take place to discuss the consultation results on:
Friday, 15 June 2012 from 10am-12pm, The Salon, York House
Thursday, 21 June 2012 from 5.30pm – 7.30pm, The Terrace, York House
View the full press release