Direct Payments

Direct Payments are cash payments given to service users to pay for the community care services they have been assessed as needing. They are intended to give users greater choice in their care by allowing them to buy the care and support they need themselves, rather than having the council arranging it for them.

The payment given must be sufficient to enable the person to purchase services to meet their assessed needs, and must be spent on services that meet the person’s needs.

A Direct Payment is not counted as income, meaning that it does not affect a person’s welfare payments, and is not liable for tax.

Social Care Needs

To meet an individual’s social care needs, a Personal Budget is provided, which is the total cost of their various assessed social care needs. This may be taken as a Direct Payment.

Healthcare Needs

To meet an individual’s healthcare needs, the NHS may provide them with a Personal Health Budget, which is the total of their various healthcare costs. This may also be taken as a Direct Payment.

How to use your Direct Payment

The person receiving the payment needs to either:

• Employ people to provide support 
• Ask a service to organise this for them 
• Councils have commissioned support organisation 
• Some combination of the two.

As a result, Direct Payments of a Personal Budget can provide a potentially good option for people.

What can the money in a Direct Payment be used for?

The money in a Direct Payment may only be used for services outlined as necessary within the care or support plans.

The Direct Payment of a Personal Budget may only be used to fulfil social care needs, whereas the Direct Payment of a Personal Health budget may only be used to fulfil healthcare needs.

It may not be used for things which would be considered wrong for the government to fund. These generally include alcohol, tobacco, gambling, debt repayment, and anything which is illegal.