Direct Payments

Following an assessment of your care needs, and of your financial situation, your local council may offer help in the form of Direct Payments. This means they will pay you, or a person that you nominate to act on your behalf, the money you need to arrange care and support services. The payment must be spent on services that meet your assessed needs, but it allows you to be more flexible and individual in the way you arrange your care.

However, the money must not go to a relative or anyone living in your household unless they are specifically employed as a live-in carer. You have to keep records to show the council exactly how you have spent the money.