Direct Payments

In this section (click on the links to take you straight to the information you need):

•    What is a Direct Payment?
•    Who can get a Direct Payment?
•    Why is a Direct Payment a good way of getting support?
•    What can you get with your Direct Payment?
•    How do I get a Direct Payment?


What is a Direct Payment?
A  Direct Payment is money that Richmond Council can give you instead of arranging care services for you. They are an important way of helping you to continue to live independently in your own home because you can use this cash payment to buy the support that you want and need. You can have a Direct Payment for all your support, or for part of it. If you only want a Direct Payment for part of your support, Richmond Adult and Community Services or your Broker can help you to arrange services for the rest of it. Direct Payments are not a benefit and choosing to have a Direct Payment does not affect your benefits.  It is your choice as to whether you want a Direct Payment or not, however having Direct Payment give you more choice and control over the way your needs are met.

Who can get a Direct Payment?


Most individuals who are receiving social services from the Council can choose to have a Direct Payment.

This includes:
•    Older people who have been assessed as needing community care services
•    Disabled people aged 16 and over, including those with short or long term needs
•    Individuals who use mental health services
•    Individuals with learning difficulties 
•    Carers
•    Parents of disabled children

You do not need to have capacity to manage a Direct Payment. If you are supporting a relative, parent or friend and they would like to have choice over who is providing their care, they can still have a Direct Payment. The payment is made to the individual who is managing the support on behalf of the individual.

Why is a Direct Payment a good way of getting support? 
Direct Payments allow you to take more of the decisions that affect your life. They give you more flexibility and choice, by enabling you to purchase care for yourself that is better suited to your individual needs. If you receive a Direct Payment, you can decide how your needs will be met, by whom and at what time. You are in control. You may make arrangements directly; so that any staff you employ report directly to you, or if you have a contract with an agency or service, they will be accountable to you, not the local council.

Direct Payments give you:

What can you get with your Direct Payment?
You can use your Direct Payment to get the support that you need. The support that you purchase must be legal and must meet the outcomes that you have listed in your Support Plan.

Many of us use our Direct Payment to employ our own support worker, sometimes called a Personal Assistant or PA for short, instead of having to rely on 'care' agencies. We pay our PAs a wage to give us help with practical daily living tasks, such as:
    •    washing and dressing
    •    shopping and cleaning
    •    getting up and going to bed
    •    cooking and eating meals

We also arrange for our PA to assist us:
    •    at work
    •    at college or classes
    •    to go out to meet friends and family
    •    to travel to the doctors or dentist
    •    to do things that anyone might want to do for fun or relaxation

Other people use their Direct Payments to:
    •    buy equipment and services,
    •    to pay for short breaks away from home and at a place you choose
    •    pay for an activity or class instead of going to a day centre
    •    Have support to live in your own home, instead of living in a care home.

Examples of Individuals who are using a Direct Payment

Parents
Gill is a disabled mum and was told by her local Council that her newborn baby would have to be cared for outside her home by someone else. She was able to use her payment to employ someone in her own home which enabled her to be a wife and mother.

Older People
Molly, is 85 years old. She's had a hip operation and a heart attack. Following discharge from hospital, Molly had 21 different agency carers in one week! She now gets Direct Payments and employs her own helpers. Her daughter handles the management of the returns and both she and Molly think this arrangement has kept her out of residential care.

Mental Health
Fatima is a 33 year old mother of three affected by Post traumatic stress disorder and temporary intermittent physical paralysis. Fatima receives a Direct Payment and uses that to employ an assistant for 14 hours a week. In addition to helping her with household chores, her Assistant looks after her children so that she can attend a local out-patients clinic. At the clinic Fatima is able to get the support that she needs from others who are in a similar situation to herself. Fatima is able to live an independent life and look after her children. She has employed a Somali language speaker and this helps to ensure that her children develop their own cultural identity

Learning Disability
Maria has a learning disability. She has 24-hour package of care using a team of four personal assistants. She has a trusted circle of support to help her decide and get what she wants. Her package of support is funded through Direct Payments and the Independent Living Fund. An independent living trust was set up to look after and manage her money on her behalf.

Children and Families
Jill is a two year old with Glycogen Storage Disease type 1A. Jill is attached to a feeding pump, which has to be monitored every 2 hours, day and night. Jill's mum provides 24-hour care 7 days a week. She is a lone parent with two other young children. Her only source of support was Jill's grandfather, who would spend time in the home every evening. When the grandfather fell ill, Jill's mum found herself in the position of having to send the other two children to bed when Jill went to bed, or to leave them downstairs alone while she sat with Jill. Direct Payments were arranged for 14 hours a week. This enabled Jill's mum to spend some times with her other two children whilst a personal assistant sat with Jill until she went to sleep.

HIV / AIDS
John is a middle aged man who is living with HIV. He is unable to work and spends most of his time at home. He gets very tired and so finds it very difficult to go on outings. He barely manages to get to the local shops to buy food. John applied for a DP and now he has a Personal Assistant who comes to his house twice a week. It has made his shopping trips much easier and he now enjoys social outings.

Physical Disability
Judy and Mick are a young couple with 4 children under the age of 6. Mick has a physical impairment and Judy has to take the kids to school every day. She doesn't drive so this entails a lengthy journey across town with 2 toddlers 'in tow' as Mick cannot cope with kids in his wife's absence. They own a car but Judy doesn't have a license. They're not receiving services within the home because neither of them want what they feel would be an intrusion into their home. Judy is trying to meet all of Mick's personal care needs. A carers' Direct Payment funded the cost of driving lessons. Judy passed her test and is now able to use the family car, which tremendously eases some of the burdens of caring for both Mick and her four children.

Sensory Impairment
Bill is deaf and blind and lives alone. His father previously assisted him with many tasks; dealing with correspondence, communication, and acting as a communicator guide when accessing community services, socialising and shopping. His dad found this extremely difficult and Bill was assessed as needing a communicator guide for essential access needs. Due to the limited number of professionally trained communicator/ guides in the community, Direct Payments where set up to enable Bill to purchase such a service from an organisation that the local Social Services would not normally contract with. This also allowed more flexibility for Bill as the days and times for requiring this support would vary from week to week.


How do I get a Direct Payment?
Your social worker should discuss this option with you when they assess your care needs but if they do not, or if you already get services, ask the duty care manager or the social worker you usually speak to.

If the council have not previously assessed you needs, you can ask for an assessment in the same way as you would for any social care service. If you are new to social services you will need to get in contact with them to arrange an assessment. Click here for more information
If the council concluded that you did not need social care services, then it will not offer you a Direct Payment. However, if you think your needs or circumstances have now changed, ask your local council for a new assessment.

If you are already getting support from the council contact you socials services team to ask them if you can move to Direct Payments.

To get a Direct Payment you will need:
1. To have undergone an assessment and chosen to have a Direct Payment.
2. To open a separate bank account for this money as Direct Payments are public money (it comes from the council). The account will also need to be a current account.
The Council provide a letter template for you to take to your bank if required to help you to set up a new account for your Direct Payments.

Click on the document to download DirectPaymentBankLetter.pdf 

We are here to help with every step of the process
Helpline 020 8831 6083.