Council and democracy

What can I spend the payment on?

You must use the direct payment to buy support that meets your needs.

The money can be used for:
employing personal assistants or home carers yourself,
buying services from a home care agency, or
buying other services which you have been assessed as needing.

You must keep careful records of how you use your money to show that the payment is meeting your assessed needs and that you are in control of decisions about how the money is spent.

What is the difference between employing a personal assistant and using a home care agency?
If you choose to employ a personal assistant you take on the role of employer and are therefore responsible for making national insurance contributions, income tax payments, holiday and sick pay. Whereas if you choose to use a home care agency, staff will be employed directly by the agency.

Can I use the payment to pay a family member?
Close relatives who don't live at the same address as the person receiving the direct payment can be paid in this way. As a general rule, you cannot use your direct payments to get help from relatives living in the same household. However, in very exceptional circumstances this may be possible. We would discuss this with you to see if this was the only way of securing services before agreeing to anything.