Self-Directed Support

Know Your Options and Take Control

Your Support Your Budget Your Choice Your Future

As a parent or carer, you want the best support for your family. Self-Directed Support (SDS) is the system designed to give you that. Real choice over how support is arranged and control of the budget that funds it.

The reality is that SDS can feel confusing. Families often tell us they don’t fully understand their options, feel pressured into taking what’s on offer, or aren’t sure why their budget looks different from someone else’s. None of this is about social workers trying to hold people back, they are working within systems that are stretched and often complex. But for families, the result can still feel limiting.

That’s why we’ve created this dedicated SDS section. It’s here to give parents and carers:

Clarity – plain-English explanations of how SDS is supposed to work.

Confidence – scripts, checklists, and examples that help you ask the right questions.

Choice – tools to explore why Option 1 or Option 4 often give you more flexibility to use services that truly fit your life.

Fairness – guidance on what to do if your budget doesn’t seem right or transparent.

Social Work teams and families both want the same thing: support that meets real needs. These resources are designed to make that partnership easier, so you feel informed, prepared, and able to make SDS work for you.

Explore the guides, checklists, and examples below — and see how Self-Directed Support can work better for your family.

The information in these documents are drawn from public sources, professional experience, and informal cost modelling. All the information found in these documents are believed to be accurate, but we all make mistakes. Some figures are estimated averages based on lived experience and are intended for general understanding, not for audit or financial planning. All efforts have been made to ensure transparency and accuracy, but we advise you use these as a guide to conduct your own research and if you find any errors please contact us so we can make the corrections. We want to work together as a team to support everyone who we can.

Bennachie Horizon Stylised Garioch Aberdeenshire Artwork - Feilds of Gold

Self-Directed Support Hub

Self-Directed Support is the way councils in Scotland provide care and support budgets. The idea is simple: you should be able to shape the help you get so it fits your life, not the other way around. This could mean choosing your own staff, mixing activities with different providers, or deciding exactly when your support takes place.

In practice, many people find the system harder to navigate than it should be. Rules can be confusing, options aren’t always explained, and the process can take months. Our Training Service has collected plain-English guides, tools, and templates so you know what’s possible, what’s supposed to happen, and how to act when reality doesn’t match the brochure.

What You’ll Find in this Section

How SDS is supposed to work vs. how it often does
Step-by-step deep dives into each SDS option
Templates for requests, appeals, and provider changes
Advice on avoiding placement pressure
Guidance for getting a fair and transparent budget

Start Here

Read our Understanding Self-Directed Support Guide (PDF download)
This guide explains:

What SDS is and how it’s meant to work
The four SDS options for controlling your budget
Practical tips, examples, and tools for navigating the process

Explore the SDS Topics

Use the tabs above to dig into each part of the SDS process:

Option 1 Deep-Dive
Option 1 Timeline
Budgets
Provider & Procurement

Why We Made this SDS Hub

We’ve seen too many people miss out on the right support because they didn’t know their options, or because the system wasn’t explained clearly. The SDS Hub is our way of giving you the knowledge, tools, and confidence to make SDS work for you.

Bennachie Horizon Guides

Understanding Self-Directed Support

Self-Directed Support (SDS) is meant to give you choice and control over your care, from who helps you, to when and where it happens. In reality, the process can be slow, unclear, and full of hidden rules. This hub is here to make it simpler.

Official Information

Scottish Government SDS Standards
For the official rules and standards councils should follow, visit:

https://www.sdsscotland.org.uk/news/revised-sds-standards-published/

Option 1 Deep-Dive

When Scotland introduced Self-Directed Support, the goal was to give people real choice: support that fits their life, rather than fitting into whatever slots or providers the council already has. The law says you can choose your own staff, decide how and when support happens, and even mix providers for different activities.

Option 1 is where the council pays the agreed budget directly to you, or to someone managing it on your behalf. This puts you in control of how that money is spent.

Many families think Option 1 is only for hiring a personal assistant, but it can do far more than that. You can use the budget to pay directly for:

Training services (like Bennachie Horizon)
Clubs and community activities
Specialist support sessions
Short courses or skill-building opportunities

It’s also important to understand how Option 1 compares to Option 2. Under Option 2, a third-party organisation manages the budget on your behalf, handling invoices and payments. While this can be useful for some families, the organisation usually charges an administration fee, and that fee comes out of your support budget. That means you may end up with less money available for actual support or activities, but it does remove the hassle of managing paperwork if attending multiple activities and employing multiple carers.

If you don’t need to hire staff, and your main goal is to pay for services, groups, or activities, Option 1 is often the more beneficial route. It avoids extra admin costs and ensures the full budget is available for your chosen support.

Option 1 means the budget is paid to you. It gives the most freedom over how support is arranged, including paying directly for training services, clubs, and activities, but it also means taking on responsibility for how the money is managed.

The big advantage is flexibility: you choose what works for your life, and payments can be made directly to providers or services you pick.

Bennachie Horizon SDS

Getting Started with Option 1

Bennachie Horizon SDS

Questions for Your Social Worker

Bennachie Horizon SDS

Budget Planner Explained

Bennachie Horizon SDS

Budget Planner Print Sheet

Bennachie Horizon SDS

Budget Planner Editable Sheet

Bennachie Horizon SDS

Budget Planner Excel Book 2025

Thinking about hiring a Personal Assistant (PA)?

Option 1 allows you to employ your own staff for one-to-one support. This can give you flexibility, but it also comes with legal and practical responsibilities. The notes below outline what’s involved at a basic level and where you might need extra advice.

Bennachie Horizon Guides

Hiring a Personal Assistant

Bennachie Horizon Guides

Understanding Self-Direct Support

Bennachie Horizon SDS

Budget Planner Excel Book 2026

Option 1 Timeline

Option 1 isn’t something that happens overnight. From the moment you request it until the first payment arrives, there are several steps: assessment, approval, paperwork, account setup, and finally the budget being released.

Some families experience long delays because they don’t know what stage the process should be at, or who to chase. By breaking it down into clear stages, you can track progress, ask the right questions, and step in early if things stall.

Each council moves at its own pace, but most follow a similar pathway. Having a timeline to hand makes it easier to know whether things are on track or slipping. We have created a simple timeline that gives you the expected time it takes for each stage so you can stay on track with confidence. In addition to this, we have also designed a series of prompting emails to help move the process forward if you believe that it is not moving at an appropriate pace.

Bennachie Horizon SDS

Option 1 Timeline Checklist

Getting Option 1 in place takes time. Knowing the steps, and how long each should take, will hopefully help you spot delays and keep things moving.

Bennachie Horizon SDS

Delay Escalation Email Templates

Budgets

One of the biggest frustrations families tell us about is how different people, with very similar needs, can end up with completely different budgets. Sometimes this is because of how assessments are written, sometimes because of how local systems allocate money, and sometimes just because changes were not reported.

Bennachie Horizon SDS

Budget Comparison Sheet

Two people with very similar needs can end up with very different SDS budgets. If a budget does not seem right, you can ask questions, challenge it and make sure.

Bennachie Horizon SDS

Step-by-Step Appeal

Bennachie Horizon SDS

Evidence Checklist

Budgets are meant to be based on assessed need, but in practice they’re often set using internal “resource allocation systems (RAS)” that aren’t transparent. This can mean that one family receives far more hours or a higher rate than another, even though the support needs might look the same. This can feel unfair, and leave families confused about why their budget doesn’t stretch as far as someone else’s.

The important thing to know is that you can ask questions about your budget if it doesn’t meet your needs. You have the right to see how it was calculated, to ask for a review, and to present evidence that shows where more support is required.

Provider & Procurement

Every council has its own procurement rules; their way of buying and paying for services. To keep things simple, councils set up contracts with certain providers. These providers go on an “approved list,” and under Option 3 (council-arranged support), Social Work must use that list. It is not a personal choice by your social worker, they’re simply following the system.

The picture changes with Options 1 & 2 and direct/private payments. Because the money is in your hands, you can choose to pay for services outside the approved list, for example, training services, community groups, or specialist activities. As long as the provider is a legitimate business and the support meets your assessed needs, this is allowed.

Councils often prefer you to pick from their “approved providers” list, but SDS means you can usually choose other services too, especially with Options 1 & 2.

There’s also Option 4, which mixes the approaches. You might stay mostly on Option 3 because it’s easier for things like respite, but use part of your budget in the style of Option 1 to access a service that isn’t on the approved list.

Knowing these differences helps you understand when procurement rules apply and when they don’t. That way, you can confidently choose the option that gives you the right balance of flexibility and simplicity.

Bennachie Horizon SDS

Procurement Rules

Aberdeenshire Council's Procurement List

Bennachie Horizon Map - Aberdeenshire Learning Disability Services Procurment List 2025

Outwith the Council's own Day Centres, these are the only services available on the Aberdeenshire Council's Procurement List in July 2025. The only services for those who are on SDS Option 3.

Self-Directed Support

Know Your Options and Take Control

Your Support Your Budget Your Choice Your Future

Self-Directed Support Hub

What You’ll Find in this Section

Start Here

Explore the SDS Topics

Why We Made this SDS Hub

Official Information

Option 1 Deep-Dive

Option 1 is where the council pays the agreed budget directly to you, or to someone managing it on your behalf. This puts you in control of how that money is spent.

The big advantage is flexibility: you choose what works for your life, and payments can be made directly to providers or services you pick.

Thinking about hiring a Personal Assistant (PA)?

Option 1 Timeline

Budgets

Provider & Procurement

Aberdeenshire Council's Procurement List

Outwith the Council's own Day Centres, these are the only services available on the Aberdeenshire Council's Procurement List in July 2025. The only services for those who are on SDS Option 3.

Our Friends and Partners

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Inverurie Environmental Improvement Group

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