What can you spend a Direct Payment on
A direct payment is for you to use to meet the needs that the care co-ordinator has assessed you as having. Every local council has its own particular scheme, and your care co-ordinator will explain the type of things that the money can and cannot be spent on.
This should not be ‘set in stone' and should be negotiable. Direct payments are intended to provide the people who use them with choice and control over how their needs are meet.
The important thing is that you use the money to meet the needs that have been agreed with your care co-ordinator, and that you properly account for how much has been spent.
Over time your needs may change or new ways in which your needs can be met may well arise. This may mean either an increase or decrease in your direct payment. You should be able to discuss such possibilities with your care co-ordinator as they arise and modify your care plan accordingly.
Examples of what you might use a direct payment for are:
- You might need help to do everyday things at home, during the night or when you go out. A direct payment could be used to employ your ownpersonal assistant
- You could buy your care from an agency
- You might use a direct payment to buy and arrange your own short break away from home, also known as respite
- If you are a regular carer for a disabled person, you might need more breaks or support. You could use a direct payment to pay for anything which Social Services agrees would help you to continue as a carer
- You might need a piece of equipment that would help you live a more independent life, a direct payment could be used to buy this
- A person may wish to purchase daytime activities in the community rather than attending a day centre
Examples of what you cannot buy with a direct payment:
- Currently you cannot buy services from your local council as it is not allowed to sell its services in this way
- Direct payments are intended to support adults to live independently, so you cannot use them to buy permanent residential care, you may however be able to purchase an occasional short break
Who you can and cannot employ with a direct payment:
- Direct payments are not intended to replace existing support networks within families and communities. For this reason, you may not normally use a direct payment to employ your spouse or partner, a close relative or anyone who lives in the same household as you. (In certain circumstances this rule may be flexible, your care co-ordinator will be able to tell you if this applies to you.)
Other conditions:
- Make sure the services you are buying are of a satisfactory standard
- Spend the payments only on your assessed needs
- Do not employ excluded people, this would include anyone who has been considered unsuitable following a Criminal Records Bureau check
- Immediately inform your care co-ordinator if your needs change
