Call for greater vetting and regulation of staff employed by direct payments

Clearer guidance is needed on the protection of vulnerable
adults who use direct payments to buy social care services, a local
authority official told delegates.

David Formstone, a senior manager for community care at East
Dunbartonshire Council, said there were “much looser arrangements”
around the monitoring and vetting of staff employed by service
users through direct payments compared with those employed by
councils.

But Ann Ferguson, elder abuse project leader at Age Concern
Scotland, said some service user groups, such as those representing
people with learning difficulties, had in the past voiced their
opposition to stricter controls.

“They do not want that ‘vulnerable adult’ label,” she said.