The conditions applicable to a Direct Payment under the Care Act compared to those applicable to PHBs

Could you give a link to the Government legislation regarding Direct Payment Rates for paying Personal Assistants? Particularly regarding and how much (or little) lee-way individual councils have in saying how much carers can be paid?

Leave a Comment / Assessment and Eligibility, Being an Authorised Person for holding a direct payment or PHB for someone else's benefit, Care Planning, Budgets and Choice Rights, Carer Q&As, Difference between the Direct Payment/PHB function and contracts between the holder and the service provider/employee, Direct Payments and Personal Health Budgets, Direct Payments Q&As, Discretionary charging for meeting a person's needs under the Care Act, Duties and Discretions, Professional judgment versus discretion in the context of duties and powers under the Care Act, Q&As on Direct Payments, Q&As on Informal Carers, Relevance of other agencies' duties for meeting need under s18 or s19 of the Care Act, The conditions applicable to a Direct Payment under the Care Act compared to those applicable to PHBs, The duty to act under the Care and Support Guidance (and other such Codes or Frameworks), The law about the content of the Care Plan under the Care Act, The range of services or items on which a direct payment or PHB can lawfully be spent and those on which it cannot be spent, The range of services, items, facilities and responses able to be provided under the Care Act, The rights of carers, in relation to health and social care services and support, Universal duties to meet eligible unmet needs adequately and appropriately, Using a Direct Payment or PHB to pay Close Family Members in the same household, What it means to ask for a Direct Payment or PHB under the Care Act, the Mental Health Act and NHS Continuing Healthcare /

No, there is no such easy solution possible, we are sorry to say. ‘A link to the legislation’ would involve the Care Act, the Direct Payment regulations and employment law obligations – which are another part of the law altogether – but the real problem is that the question you ask is a nuanced question […]

Could you give a link to the Government legislation regarding Direct Payment Rates for paying Personal Assistants? Particularly regarding and how much (or little) lee-way individual councils have in saying how much carers can be paid? Read More »

How much flexibility is there with Direct Payments?

Leave a Comment / Care Planning, Budgets and Choice Rights, Care Planning, Cuts and Personal Budgets Q&As, Direct Payments and Personal Health Budgets, Direct Payments Q&As, Misuse of a Direct Payment or PHB (and recovery of the money), Q&As on Care planning, Cuts, and Personal Budgets, Q&As on Direct Payments, The conditions applicable to a Direct Payment under the Care Act compared to those applicable to PHBs, The council's review of a Direct Payment Plan and Use of the Money, The range of services or items on which a direct payment or PHB can lawfully be spent and those on which it cannot be spent /

There is flexibility as to the timing and manner of the response to the need, and as to the identity of the business or worker who provides the care and support – but not much more than that. That is because the budget one is given to spend, must, in legal terms, rationally relate back

How much flexibility is there with Direct Payments? Read More »

Can I pay the care contribution charge out of the DP?

Leave a Comment / Care Planning, Budgets and Choice Rights, Charging and financial assessment, Charging and Financial Assessment Q&As, Direct Payments and Personal Health Budgets, Direct Payments Q&As, Paying a Direct Payment net or gross of the client's charge for Care Act services, Q&As on Charging and Financial Assessment, Q&As on Direct Payments, The conditions applicable to a Direct Payment under the Care Act compared to those applicable to PHBs, The legal issues when a Direct Payment/PHB cannot or will not be used (hospital stays, lockdown, holidays, etc) /

No, not in any circumstances. The budget which has been converted into a DP is made up of your assessed charge, plus the shortfall between that and the cost of your services, and that is why the Direct Payment will often be paid net of your charges, so that you have to find the extra

Can I pay the care contribution charge out of the DP? Read More »

Who really has the right to decide on how and when a DP’s use can be changed?

Leave a Comment / Care Planning, Budgets and Choice Rights, Care Planning, Cuts and Personal Budgets Q&As, Commissioner's circumstances - reductions due to financial resources difficulties & variations RE the manner of meeting needs, Direct Payments and Personal Health Budgets, Direct Payments Q&As, Discretionary charging for meeting a person's needs under the Care Act, Due Process requirements for revising any care or support plan based on the Care Act regime, Duties and Discretions, General rules about changing the content or value of a care or a support plan based on the Care Act case law, Person's own circumstances - the implication of increases and reductions or stabilisation of needs, Provider's circumstances - closures, service reconfigurations and staffing issues, Q&As on Care planning, Cuts, and Personal Budgets, Q&As on Direct Payments, Review of the Care Plan - scheduled, requested and urgent review, Reviews and Revisions (cuts or changes to content), Revision process under s27 Care Act - proportionate re-assessment, a new eligibility decision and fresh care planning, The conditions applicable to a Direct Payment under the Care Act compared to those applicable to PHBs, The council's review of a Direct Payment Plan and Use of the Money /

ouncils are in charge of direct payments under the legal framework. Revision of any care plan connotes some sort of re-assessment and fresh care planning process under the authority of the council. Section 33 says that they can impose conditions as they think fit, within some broad parameters regarding reasonableness, and that they can prohibit

Who really has the right to decide on how and when a DP’s use can be changed? Read More »

Are Direct Payment budgets the same as Personal Budgets documents?

Leave a Comment / Care Planning, Budgets and Choice Rights, Difference between the Direct Payment/PHB function and contracts between the holder and the service provider/employee, Direct Payments and Personal Health Budgets, Direct Payments Q&As, Personal Health Budgets, Personal Health Budgets differentiated from Direct Payments, Q&As on Direct Payments, The conditions applicable to a Direct Payment under the Care Act compared to those applicable to PHBs /

No. A personal budget is the statement of the whole of the expenditure by the council on meeting needs, under s26 of the Act, and is made up of the person’s assessed charge and any shortfall from the council.  A direct payment budget is that part of a personal budget that the council has regarded

Are Direct Payment budgets the same as Personal Budgets documents? Read More »

Can a social worker/panel defend paying a Direct Payment holder’s PA less than the council’s commissioned rates to companies for the same sort of service? For example, could they say we’re only going to pay a flat rate for night care, rather than the hourly rate the council policy allows for both waking and night sits?

Leave a Comment / Care Planning, Budgets and Choice Rights, Charging and financial assessment, Direct Payments and Personal Health Budgets, Direct Payments Q&As, Discretionary charging for meeting a person's needs under the Care Act, Duties and Discretions, Financial Control of non-commissioned budgets, Options for management of a Direct Payment or PHB and options for getting help to manage it, Public law principles relevant to non-commissioned services, Q&As on Direct Payments, The conditions applicable to a Direct Payment under the Care Act compared to those applicable to PHBs, The right to charge for social care /

Yes, because a direct payment holder is not running a business, and is not taking on a statutory duty of the council towards others. That is not to say however, that a market rate for a particular sort of skill would never be higher in the direct payment PA market than the rate paid to agencies,

Can a social worker/panel defend paying a Direct Payment holder’s PA less than the council’s commissioned rates to companies for the same sort of service? For example, could they say we’re only going to pay a flat rate for night care, rather than the hourly rate the council policy allows for both waking and night sits? Read More »

Is it lawful for councils to refuse to pay family members who are providing paid care via a Direct Payment market rate or above National Minimum Wage?

Leave a Comment / Appropriateness, Sufficiency and Transparency of a care plan, Care Planning, Budgets and Choice Rights, Charging and financial assessment, Contractual matters, Direct Payments and Personal Health Budgets, Direct Payments Q&As, Employing family members with a Direct Payment or health budget, Exception-making and discrimination, Fees Issues with the Public Sector, Fettering and Exception making, Issues of importance to social care service providers, Public law principles relevant to Care Planning, Q&As on Direct Payments, The conditions applicable to a Direct Payment under the Care Act compared to those applicable to PHBs, The right to charge for social care, Using a Direct Payment or PHB to pay Close Family Members in the same household /

It is not lawful for any employer to pay less than the National Minimum Wage, so the direct payment cannot be less than that, but the counting rules and rules about sleeping time can make it difficult to identify if that is in fact happening. The employer’s responsibility is absolute, regardless of what the council

Is it lawful for councils to refuse to pay family members who are providing paid care via a Direct Payment market rate or above National Minimum Wage? Read More »

Can social workers cancel Direct Payments if the service user or carer requests a remote review in place of a home visit?

Leave a Comment / Assessment and Eligibility, Assessment under the Care Act, Care Planning, Budgets and Choice Rights, Care Planning, Cuts and Personal Budgets Q&As, Direct Payments and Personal Health Budgets, Direct Payments Q&As, Due process requirements for Lawful Assessment, Due Process requirements for revising any care or support plan based on the Care Act regime, Q&As on Care planning, Cuts, and Personal Budgets, Q&As on Direct Payments, Reviews and Revisions (cuts or changes to content), Termination of a Direct Payment or PHB, The conditions applicable to a Direct Payment under the Care Act compared to those applicable to PHBs /

To keep one’s direct payment coming, one has to be willing to satisfy the council that one is still in need. If the council can explain why they have to do a home visit, ie how coming inside is relevant to the purpose or efficacy of the review, they can insist, and have a right

Can social workers cancel Direct Payments if the service user or carer requests a remote review in place of a home visit? Read More »

CP v North East Lincolnshire Council (2018)

Assessment and Eligibility, Assessment under the Care Act, Care Planning, Budgets and Choice Rights, Care Planning, Cuts and Personal Budgets Q&As, Direct Payments and Personal Health Budgets, Due process requirements associated with Direct Payments and Health Budgets, Due process requirements for Lawful Assessment, Legal rules as to what must be considered on Assessment, Personal Health Budgets differentiated from Direct Payments, Q&As on Care planning, Cuts, and Personal Budgets, The conditions applicable to a Direct Payment under the Care Act compared to those applicable to PHBs, The council's review of a Direct Payment Plan and Use of the Money /

Keywords: Care Act; personal Budgets; informal Care; interface between Care Act and the Children and Families Act; no compensation for public law breaches; right to Education Background This case concerned a 22-year-old woman with complex and multiple disabilities requiring round-the-clock care. Her parents, acting on her behalf, had pursued two parallel sets of legal proceedings

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