You'll be given a personal budget to spend if your local council decide you're eligible for help with any social care and support you need. You can request an assessment from the council to establish your needs.
The money in your personal budget can be paid to you, to help you make more decisions about how it's spent. This is known as a direct payment.
Your personal budget is the amount of money your local council will pay towards any social care and support you need.
The amount of money in your personal budget is decided by your local council after getting a needs assessment to work out:
If you're a carer, you may be entitled to receive a personal budget after having a carer's assessment to see what might help make your life easier.
A carer's assessment is free and anyone over 18 can ask for one.
You can ask the council to either:
You can also choose a combination of these options. For example, the council could arrange some of your care but send you the rest of the money. This is often called a mixed package or "mix and match".
The money in your personal budget will be spent for you by the council. They will arrange all your care and support based on your agreed care plan.
They still need to check you're happy with the care they're arranging for you.
The organisation you choose, such as your care provider, will speak to the council and arrange the payments.
Sometimes other organisations charge you extra money to arrange payments from the council.
Direct payments give you more flexibility over how your care and support is arranged and provided.
For example, you could choose to hire care workers or personal assistants who:
There are many ways you could choose to use the money. It's your choice as long as you're spending your personal budget on things that meet your agreed care plan.
Most councils will ask for evidence of how you've spent your money every 3 months.
You may decide direct payments are not helpful if:
If you are not confident about keeping records or managing the people who care for you, your local council should be able to provide support.
You could also consider having someone else manage your direct payments, for example a friend or family member. You'll need to set up a trust for payments that are managed by someone else.
You should be offered direct payments as an option after your needs assessment.
You can also ask your local council's social services department about direct payments.
If you choose direct payments, the council will send you the money in your personal budget by either:
You can then choose how you spend the money on your own care and support, as long as it matches the care plan you've agreed with the council.
The council might ask you to sign a document called a direct payment agreement. This says:
If you spend direct payments on something that isn't agreed in your care plan, the council could take the money back or end the direct payments.
Ask your local council for advice or call Money Helper on 0800 138 7777.
You could speak to the council and agree for the money to be sent to someone who will spend it for you. For example:
You may need to write down how they will spend the money and which decisions they can make for you. This is known as a decision-making agreement.
If you decide to hire a carer or personal assistant yourself, it's important to know the responsibilities you'll have as an employer.
Although support from the council should be available, you may need to arrange:
You could choose to hire care workers through an agency instead. This removes the legal obligations of being an employer, but could:
When choosing an agency, decide what sort of service you're looking for and the tasks you need help with. It's a good idea to contact more than one agency, as they may offer different types of services.
You can find out about local home care agencies by:
There are also organisations that inspect care agencies to see how well they are doing. The Care Quality Commission (CQC) regulates all health and adult social care in England.
You might see a CQC inspection rating when you search online for care home agencies. Their 4 ratings are:
If you would like support to help you manage your personal budget or direct payments, speak to your council or call:
It's worth speaking to your council's social services before making an official complaint to see if they can help.
You still have to the right to complain if you:
You could either:
Your council should also have a formal complaints procedure on its website.
Contact your Local Government Ombudsman. They investigate all adult social care complaints.
Page last reviewed: 25 November 2022
Next review due: 25 November 2025