About direct payments

If you have been allocated a personal budget, you can ask the council for direct payments.

A direct payment allows you to receive money to purchase services to meet your identified care and support needs. This can give you much more independence, flexibility and control.

Instead of the council purchasing care for you, we give you the budget to purchase it for yourself.

When you have a direct payment, we set up a direct payment bank account for you. This is a payment card account similar to a debit card account. Each month:

• the council pays its share of your personal budget into the account
• you or the person managing the direct payment on your behalf pay your assessed contribution and any extra costs not covered by your support plan. This money is then used to pay for your care and support.

Carers can also get a direct payment if they are eligible for support following a Carer’s Assessment. Services for carers are provided free of charge and carers won’t be expected to contribute to their direct payments.

Our Direct Payments Team will explain to you about direct payments and you can also find out more on our website. (Note that direct payments are not currently available for permanent care in a care home.)

Find out more about direct payments