Q: Are local authorities required to cover the cost of PPE for PAs funded by Direct Payments, if personal/incontinence care is in a care plan? If so, are they responsible for ensuring costs cover the appropriate sized PPE (such as Large/XL gloves and aprons etc for male/larger PAs)? And if a service user has been self-funding PPE because the local authority have failed to make them aware that it should be costed as part of their DP/care package – can the service user claim for the PPE costs they’ve covered to be backdated? Either as a payment from the local authority or as a rebate on DRE?
A: It’s a one word answer: yes to all!
That is yes to councils being obliged to include budget for all duties of the employer: so, IF there’s a duty to provide PPE to keep people safe in these circumstances, yes. For example, if the professional care sector uses them for their staff, in these circumstances, then the domestic employer should as well, as the standards of the sector are obviously relevant to how the law would regard the duty to keep one’s staff safe. And Yes to the appropriateness of the PPE being bought, because of course that is the employer’s duty in turn, to the larger or male employee. Non-fitting gloves and aprons would be just no good! And YES to reimbursement because an insufficient personal budget for a direct payment form of meeting need, gives rise to unlawfulness which gives rise to a duty to make restitution: CP v NE Lincs, 2019, Court of Appeal.
The ONLY way of getting it paid for is to
a) get the budget increased by reference to the need for the budget to be sufficient to cover the employer’s obligations, or – if you can’t face doing that
b) claiming the cost as DRE off your person’s charges, as it is obviously DRE. But NOTE – your person is only the employer if they have capacity to have a DP in their own name and you are merely helping them organise it.
I would go the former route if I were you, and especially if you already know that you ARE the real employer because you are your person’s Authorised Person, and not just their helper, for the purposes of managing the Direct Payment.