Self Directed Support: Personal Budget
Your Self Directed Support Personal Budget
Your Self Directed Support Personal Budget is the agreed amount of money that is allocated to you personally following an assessment of your care and support needs. A personal budget is a statement of the amount of money needed to meet your eligible social care needs. It allows you (or your representative) to control the financial resources for your support and the way the support is provided to you.
As part of the personalising care and support planning process, the local authority will inform you about your personal budget so that you can take full control over your own care. You have freedom over how the budget is spent.
Once you have been assessed as being eligible for council funding to meet your care and support needs (regardless of the contribution you may be asked to pay), the council is legally obliged to offer and allocate personal budgets for you to enable you to meet the agreed outcomes of your support plan. As part of the care and support planning process, it is now mandatory upon the local authority according to the Care Act 2014 (that came into force in 2015) to inform you of your personal budgets, that is the amount of money that the council has worked out it will cost to arrange the necessary care and support for you.
What you can and cannot spend your budget on
Your Self Directed Support payment will be based on the amount of support that you have been assessed as needing as shown in your Care and Support Plan.
Information will be provided to help you to decide how best to meet your needs and outcomes. For example, you might want to pay a care agency or to employ personal assistants yourself - or a mixture of both. You will be given enough money to pay for the support that you have been assessed as needing and are eligible for and you can only use your Self Directed Support payment money to buy care and support to meet your assessed needs and outcomes as set out in your Care and Support Plan.
| Examples of things you can spend your personal budget on | Examples of things you can't spend your personal budget on |
|---|---|
| To achieve / meet your assessed outcomes. | Anything that has not been identified and agreed through the assessment and support plan. |
| Employing Personal Assistants when in receipt of Option 1 (Direct Payment). | Any specialist equipment or therapy that you have been assessed as requiring that will be provided directly by the NHS, Local Authority/HSCP such as: Housing, Education and Children's Services, Occupational Therapy |
| Purchasing support from an agency / provider. | Rewards/gifts to unpaid carers - this should be paid from the supported person's income |
| Live in carers | Alcohol, tobacco products or e-cigarettes. |
| Purchasing respite / holiday care. | Client contributions for services, including respite which must be paid from your personal funds |
| Support to attend education, volunteering opportunities or employment. | Transport costs: taxis, petrol, transport, travel where in receipt of DLA mobility or PIP (mobility). It also can't be used for the charge for blue badge. |
| Purchasing items activities and services that support you to meet your assessed outcomes and needs. | Paying or employing someone who is a Welfare or Financial Guardian or Power of Attorney or who holds parental rights and responsibilities. |
| Statutory employment responsibilities and costs incurred when employing Personal Assistants (PA) for example: payroll, insurance, terms and conditions of employment. | Permanent residential care and support. |
| Paying for activities, services and memberships for example: to be more involved in your community or gain access to leisure. Examples are joining a lunch club or gardening club | Household expenditure; rent or mortgage payments, utility bills, food/drink, furniture replacement, broadband. |
| Anything that is illegal. |
There are some things that you may be able to negotiate with your practitioner / social worker as suitable for using your personal budget for, if they meet a specific outcome.
For example:
- Specialist equipment that is not directly provided by the NHS, Health and Social Care Partnership or the Local Authority.
- Purchasing equipment or membership where there is evidence that this meets an outcome, for example: sports equipment, gym membership, horse riding lessons.
- Short breaks or holidays as an alternative to respite. Where this meets identified outcome, (food should not be included in the cost).
- Travel costs in excess of DLA mobility this may be for transport and petrol to meet an assessed outcome.
- Maintenance/running costs of equipment, antivirus packages; where the personal budget has been used to purchase a piece of equipment you may or may not be allowed to pay for the maintenance of this item.
- Leisure and alternative therapies e.g. yoga, aromatherapy (within reasonable timescales and costs).
- Alternatives to residential nursing care.
You can get independent information and advice around Self Directed Support at any time by contacting our advice service providers. Self Directed Support: Getting Help with Decisions