Last year, 210 unpaid carers and supported people responded to our short survey about their experiences of Self Directed Support (SDS) during the pandemic.
According to guidance that was issued by the Scottish Government in May 2020, people who receive SDS should have been given flexibility to use their care budgets to purchase alternative support during the pandemic if their usual support or services were no longer available.
Only 1 in 3 of those who responded to our survey had been able to use their SDS budgets more flexibly during the pandemic.
Many carers and supported people were told that they were not allowed to spend their budgets on any alternative support during the pandemic.
We have summarised the key messages from carers in a short report, which you can download and read here.
