Virtual Wallet
What is Virtual Wallet?
Virtual Wallet supports NHS organisations and local authorities to deliver personal health budgets, direct payments, Individual Service Funds (ISFs) and one-off payments and grants. The funding organisation makes one simple payment into the Virtual Wallet central fund and budgets are then allocated to individuals. The individual is then able to choose, book and buy care, support and products to meet their specific needs. Virtual Wallet then automatically processes payments to the providers and personal assistants.
Virtual Wallet also enables robust financial monitoring and complete transparency on budget spend for all parties. It also enables individuals to continue to have choice and control over their care and support, without the hassle of having to make payments themselves or send in receipts.
Key Benefits
How can you use Virtual Wallet?
Our Virtual Wallet solution for personal health budgets is built on our experiences in social care and best practices across the globe, and has been tailored to the specific needs of the NHS.
We work in close partnership with CCGs to empower patients to experience the benefits of personalised care, while minimising the risk and administrative burden for NHS organisations.
Our passionate team have a wealth of experiences across the health sector and work across multiple cohorts, including continuing healthcare, mental health, end-of-life care and personal wheelchair budgets.
Endorsed by NHS England, Virtual Wallet has been designed to deliver all three recognised models of personal health budgets (direct payments, 3rd party managed budgets and notional budgets) and can deliver 10-20% of cost savings compared to traditional methods.
Visit Cheshire CCG Virtual Wallet (opens in a new window) which is aimed at patients and explains how it works.
Virtual Wallet currently manages approximately £7 million of social care direct payments per month, allowing users to exercise full choice and control over their social care budget, while giving full visibility to local authorities.
With clear advantages over pre-paid cards or cash payments, Virtual Wallet has been successfully used for traditional direct payments, as well as joint funding with CCGs, ISFs, one-off payments and more.
Visit Croydon Virtual Wallet (opens in a new window), which is aimed at individuals and explains how it works.
Individual Service Fund Wallet (ISF Wallet) is a solution for ISF provider organisations to manage all the financial elements of a personal budget on behalf of an individual.
ISF Wallet is the result of a collaboration between Self Directed Futures and People Places Lives (PPL). It brings together Self Directed Futures’ passion & expertise in relation to ISFs and the Virtual Wallet solution developed by PPL, for the management of personal budgets. Put simply, it solves the hassle of managing the money for ISF provider organisations.
Using our Virtual Wallet for Short Breaks gives families flexibility, choice and control over how they spend their grant and can reduce administration costs by 65%.
Families can apply for a grant / payment online and spend it within a dedicated online marketplace across a range of activities. Because we deliver our Short Breaks Virtual Wallet solution via our national, multi-tenanted solution, we are able to provide our clients with instant access to a range of 'ready-to-go' suppliers and voucher schemes.
Virtual Wallet allows local authorities to promote a more diverse range of approved activities and breaks, while providing full transparency and auditability of spend. No more time spent on chasing receipts and clawback - it is all managed by Virtual Wallet.
Visit Short Breaks For Me (opens in a new window) to see how it works in Barking & Dagenham.
Virtual Wallet allows carers to spend funds on relevant services via an eMarketplace built specifically for them, including day trips, short breaks, leisure activities, complementary therapies, sitting services and home help.
Carers can apply for a grant / payment online and spend it within a dedicated marketplace. Because we deliver our Carers Virtual Wallet solution via our national, multi-tenanted solution, we are able to provide our clients with instant access to a range of 'ready-to-go' suppliers and voucher schemes.
Virtual Wallet allows local authorities to promote a more diverse range of approved activities and breaks, while providing full transparency and auditability of spend. No more time spent on chasing receipts and clawback - it is all managed by Virtual Wallet.
Many Local Authorities provide educational personal budgets to Children with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities. Budgets are used to fund a range of services, such as training and tuition, specialist support and equipment.
Such schemes are often cumbersome to manage, both in terms of the initial application and administration, and also the tracking and auditing of funds. Virtual Wallet is an effective solution to deliver choice and control to children and their families, while giving full visibility of spend to LA staff.
"Virtual Wallet has enabled us to deliver £290k of in-year savings by embedding Digital at the heart of our business. This has simplified the management of Direct Payments for Clients, Providers and BCC. It also enabled us to claw-back over £1m of unspent funds, within two weeks of the end of the financial year."
Marcia Smith, Head of Business Improvement – Communities Health and Social Care at Buckinghamshire County Council.
People Places Lives Limited is regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority as a Small Electronic Money Institution (FRN: 953987) in respect of the direct payments, personal health budgets and grants that are managed via us. Funds held by us are not protected under the Financial Services Compensation Scheme, but are safeguarded within segregated bank accounts in accordance with the provisions of the Electronic Money Regulations 2011.