Direct payments - children's social care

A direct payment is a way of delivering a social care personal budget. It's used to meet an assessed social care need, either for children and young people aged 0-18 under the Children Act 1989 or young people aged 18 and over via the Care Act 2014.

The aim of providing a direct payment is to increase an individual’s independence and choice by giving them control over the way the services they are assessed as needing are delivered. By having a say in the way this budget is used, a parent carer or young person can control elements of their support promoting flexibility, choice and quality of life.

You may be offered a direct payment that you can manage yourself which will be paid into a bank account managed by you, which will be used to buy the services and support that meet your child’s agreed outcomes.

You may choose to have your personal budget managed by us on your behalf. This will mean that services will be purchased and arranged for you, but should be informed by your family’s needs and based on person-centred care planning.

We can only make a direct payment if the young person, or someone on their behalf, consents to it.

If your child has an education health and care plan (EHCP) or is undergoing an education health and care needs assessment, you can request a social care direct payment. The pathway to requesting one is through your child having a social care assessment of need, which can be requested through the First Point of Contact Team (FPOC) on 0345 6789021.

An assessment of need will be carried out to identify what support is needed for your child or young person to help them to live a happy, healthy and safe life. More information about assessments and eligibility can be found on the Disabled Children’s Team and Early Help pages. Following this assessment of need, the most appropriate support will be identified to meet your child or young person's individual needs.

Under the Carers and Disabled Children Act 2000, direct payments can only be provided to:

• A disabled young person (16/17 years old)- assessed as needing a service under Section 17A of the Children Act 1989
• A person with parental responsibility for a disabled child - assessed as needing a service under the Children Act 1989. This may include a parent or others, such as a grandparent or guardian with parental responsibility for a disabled child. It may also include a disabled person with parental responsibility for a disabled child
• Carers of disabled children aged 16 years or over - whose disabled child is assessed under the Children Act 1989
• A child is assessed at a point in time as meeting a certain threshold criteria - this doesn't mean that they always will. An assessment is an ongoing process, not an event; children and young people’s needs often change over time and may cross different levels, for example high in some areas and low in others

An assessment will take place to identify your child’s needs and outcomes, and any support services needed. A plan will be developed to describe what has been identified and agreed. This will be regularly reviewed to ensure that any changing needs are understood and responded to when required.

The assessment process will be the same whether the outcome is for your child to receive a direct service or direct payment. Following assessment, if required, a social care plan will be prepared with the agreement of the young person and/or their parent carer.

The plan will separately identify what type of social care service you're eligible for to meet your needs; this could be through children’s social care or early help. Any service or provision will then be linked into the outcomes in your child's education health and care (EHC) plan.

Direct payments are designed to increase the independence and flexibility of families and children and young people with special educational needs or disabilities.

You can use them to fund a service or activity that meets your child or young person's assessed needs and agreed outcomes, and that enables them to build confidence to live their best life, access opportunities to grow and flourish, be happy, healthy and safe, and support their future aspirations and preparation for adulthood.

Some of the things that you can use a direct payment for are:

• Personal care for a child or young person in their own home. This is called domiciliary care and can be provided for example through a personal assistant or independent care agency
• Overnight short breaks
• Support to access a wide range of social activities which your child would not ordinarily be able to access due to their individual SEND needs. This would be based on needs identified in their social care assessment

There are some things that a direct payment can't be used for. These include:

• If you're receiving a direct payment from social care, you can't make payments to your partner or a close relative living at the same address
• You also can't make payments to a close relative living elsewhere, or to someone living in the same household where a personal relationship exists, except in exceptional circumstances. Department of Health guidance states that local authorities can agree that a relative can be employed if it is satisfied that this is the most appropriate way of securing the right service. However, direct payments can't be used if relatives are already receiving payment for support in the form of carer’s allowance
• Where a health need has been assessed you can't use your social care direct payment to fund a health provision or service. This must be done via a Health Personal Budget.
• Household bills and ongoing housing costs

In some circumstances, if your child isn't eligible for a direct payment a service can be funded through the Participation Fund.