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Top Ups

4.1    The council will offer at least one care provider which can provide the appropriate level of care within the adult’s personal budget. Adults may choose to live somewhere more expensive if someone else (for example a family member) is able to ‘top up’ the amount that the council will fund.  

4.2    Adults may only pay a top up with their own funds:

  • during a 12 week property disregard 
  • when they have arranged a deferred payment agreement with the council and the council has agreed to a self top up
  • when accommodation is arranged as after-care under section 117 of the Mental Health Act 2007

4.3    Any proposed top up for care arranged by the council will be subject to council approval. If the council agrees to a top up arrangement, the council will require the person to enter into a written top up agreement with the council if they wish to proceed. People may jointly pay a top up but must nominate one person to be named in the top up agreement so that one person is responsible for making payment.

4.4    We will explain the terms and conditions of the agreement, in particular that the top up is a financial commitment and what will happen if the person cannot continue to meet payments. We strongly recommend that anyone who wishes to pay a top up seeks independent financial advice before they enter into a top up agreement.

Care and Support Statutory Guidance Annex A

23) The local authority must ensure that the person paying the ‘top-up’ is willing and able to meet the additional cost for the likely duration of the arrangement, recognising that this may be for some time into the future. Therefore it must ensure that the person paying the ‘top-up’ enters into a written agreement with the local authority, agreeing to meet that cost. The agreement must, as a minimum, include the following:

  • the additional amount to be paid
  • the amount specified for the accommodation in the person’s personal budget
  • the frequency of the payments
  • to whom the payments are to be made
  • provisions for reviewing the agreement
  • a statement on the consequences of ceasing to make payments
  • a statement on the effect of any increases in charges that a provider may make
  • a statement on the effect of any changes in the financial circumstances of the person paying the ‘top-up’

4.5    The council will keep top up arrangements under regular review and will also review arrangements:

  • at the request of the person paying the top up
  • in response to changes, such as if the adult’s needs change and can no longer be met by the care provider, or there is an increase in the cost of care  

4.6    Anyone responsible for paying a top up should tell the council immediately if for any reason they are unable to continue to pay the top up. 

4.7    Where a top up is discontinued, the council will seek to recover any outstanding debt to the council and has the power, subject to a needs and risk assessment, to make alternative arrangements to meet the adult’s needs. This may involve moving the adult to other accommodation where the appropriate level of care can be provided without the need for a top up.

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