A Personal budget is made up of the amount it would cost to meet your agreed support needs.
This money can either be paid direct to you so that you can arrange your own care and support or we can arrange this for you, or a combination of the two.
A Personal budget gives you the independence to:
- Choose and control the support that is best for you.
- Be fully involved in decisions about the help you need to live independently.
- Support yourself in ways that suit you.
How do I get a Personal budget?
You can only have a Personal Budget, or Direct Payment, if you have been assessed by us as needing support to help you to live independently. An Assessment is simply a discussion with you that will help us understand what help and support you might need.
The Assessment will determine how much money you can get for your Personal Budget. Once the amount is agreed you can start planning how to spend it. We'll help you to do this by using our experience to agree a plan which meets your support needs.
Once that's established we can organise how you will receive the money. It can be paid directly to you, to someone else if you aren't happy dealing with the money yourself, or we can manage it for you.
Finally, you spend the money in ways that you feel best meets your needs. You are in control as long as you spend the money in accordance with your plan. We'll check with you from time to time to make sure everything is going OK and that you are living your life in a way that suits you.
Who will arrange my Personal budget?
A Social Worker will talk to you during the Assessment and that is a good time to say that you would like to have a Personal Budget. If you would like more information they will be able to give it to you at this stage.
How do I manage my Personal budget?
There are two ways that you can manage your Personal budget:
- You can have a cash budget to arrange and purchase your own support which is done by using a Prepaid card. This will operate in the same way as a debit or credit card allowing you to pay for services from providers, purchase equipment and even pay your Personal Assistants. Click on related pages on the left for more information on prepaid cards.
- You can ask someone else to look after your Personal budget. There are organisations that will arrange and pay for support on your behalf. This is called a Managed Account. The charges for this will need to be included in your costing breakdown in your support plan. Details of some of these providers are listed below or you can search for a provider yourself.
You can choose whichever suits you best.
Payroll and Managed Accounts Providers
These are some organisations providing information on payroll, managed accounts and recruitment guidance and support with website addresses on the right of this page. For further information, please contact the organisations directly.
Last Updated: 25th Jul 2022, 14:28