Your PHB offer is your commitment to families
What does yours say about your ICB’s support for Direct Payments?
We help ICBs improve their Direct Payment PHB offer, obtain financial efficiencies, reducing internal pressures and empowering families.
From audits to implementation, Thrive Care Solutions is your partner in building PHBs that actually work.
Why This Matters?
Direct Payment PHBs are designed to offer Choice, Flexibility and Control
Choice
Parents can choose who delivers care, when it happens, and how it fits around family life.
This allows them to build a team that understands their child’s unique needs and routines.
Flexibility
Direct Payments give families the ability to design care around real life, not service hours.
They can adapt quickly when things change, without waiting on external providers.
Control
Families manage their budget, their care team, and their care model that gives their family the best outcome.
This puts decision-making back where it belongs, with the people who live it, every day.
Many ICBs are still facing challenges
Inconsistent or unclear pay scales
Parents overwhelmed by legal, employer, and training demands
Unclear or inconsistent clinical oversight and supervision
PHB offers that feel bureaucratic rather than empowering
Your PHB offer isn’t just a funding route
It’s a message
It shows families your commitment and how you are going to support them
Why Do We Exist?
We created Thrive because we’ve lived both sides of the system. We understand both the reality of family care and the systemic pressure on NHS teams.
We continue to engage with ICBs through day to day interactions and national forums, as well as parents to identify how to provide the best PHB offer that supports parents and also has long term sustainability for the NHS.
Ed Kemp
Founder & PHB Lived Experience Consultant
Thrive is led by Ed Kemp. For 10 years, Ed has managed his life-limited son's Direct Payment PHB to support his son’s care at home, employing and retaining a core team of carers, some of which have been with the family for 10 years.
He knows first-hand the strain families face and the pressure that also falls on NHS teams trying to do the right thing with limited resources.
That’s why Thrive exists: to bridge that gap.
Michelle Racey
Founder & Registered Nurse for Complex Needs & SEND
As one of the founders of Thrive Care Solutions, Michelle's vast experience in integrated care package management provides confidence and assurance for NHS providers and parents regarding clinical oversight and supervision when it comes to Direct Payment PHBs.
Michelle is a Registered Nurse (BSC Hons CCN, IPSEA L3, PGDIP), with over 30 years NHS experience of Complex Needs and SEND for Children and Young People.
What Do We Do?
We help ICBs build Direct Payment PHB offers that work legally, operationally, and in partnerships with families.
Empowerment
Clear, practical guidance for parents
Tools, templates, and real support for transitions
Confidence for families to take control
Compliance
Clear oversight and delegation pathways
Consistent standards across PHB types
Risk reduction through structure—not extra admin
Governance
Legally sound pay, training, and safeguarding processes
Aligned with NHS England guidance
Audit-ready and family-respected
What Do We Offer?
Whether you’re looking for a one-off review of your PHB offer, a redesign of your Direct Payment model or support for a group of families making the switch, we tailor the solution to your team’s capacity and needs as well as your local community population's requirements.
"We don’t just advise, we walk with you and your families
through the process"
Why Choose Thrive?
We’re not a consultancy. We’re a partner who’s done it before.
- Lived experience + professional insight
- Decade of DP PHB delivery
- Engaging with ICBs across England
- Contributing to national PHB reforms
We understand the challenge and the opportunity.
Strengthen Your PHB Offer Today!
Even before commissioning support, you can take action. These tools are free and designed to help ICBs reflect, improve, and move forward.
PHB Readiness
Is your Direct Payment offer helping or hindering families?
This 3-minute quiz helps you assess how supportive, flexible, and clear your current offer is, from a parent’s perspective.
Use it as a reflection tool with your team or as a conversation starter with families.
Business Case
Make the case for change, clearly and credibly.
This ready-to-use PDF outlines the cost, quality, and workforce benefits of expanding Direct Payment options.
Ideal for senior leaders, finance teams, and commissioners who need to see both the data and the human impact.
A Dad's Vision
Ed - Founder, PHB specialist and Dad
"I know, from managing my life-limited son's PHB, the emotional, practical and financial challenges that come with managing complex care needs while trying to maintain a normal family life.
Through this journey, I’ve learned how to build and manage a care team, navigate the system, handle the paperwork and balance everything that comes with a PHB.
With the right support and a well-structured PHB, you can build a stable care team. Many of our care team have been with with us for 5 to 10 years. Stability like that changes everything for families.
Thrive Care Solutions was created to help other families be empowered, gain the confidence, knowledge and control they need to run their own care package.
Becoming an employer, recruiting carers and taking full control can feel overwhelming at first. But with the right support, it becomes one of the most powerful ways to create stability, flexibility and better care for families and their chidlren.
Parents need real, practical advice from someone who’s walked this path."
Your PHB offer isn’t just a policy, it’s a promise.
We can help you keep it!
Contact us
We’re here to help.
Whether you have a question about Direct Payments, want to explore how we can support your care package, or simply need some guidance, send us a message and one of our team will get back to you as soon as possible.
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