Difference between the Direct Payment/PHB function and contracts between the holder and the service provider/employee

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 »

Was there a legal requirement for service users to continue paying service providers, even in the absence of services actually being provided – during the Covid-19 pandemic?

Leave a Comment / Care Planning, Budgets and Choice Rights, Contractual matters, Covid Impact 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, General rules about changing the content or value of a care or a support plan based on the Care Act case law, Issues of importance to social care service providers, Q&As on the Impact of Covid, Reviews and Revisions (cuts or changes to content) /

In the context of a direct payment arrangement, that question turned entirely on the contents of the contract. Some contracts would have provided for non-payment in the event of non-delivery of a service in any event.  Some contracts would have provided for non-delivery AND non payment under a force majeure clause but a common law

Was there a legal requirement for service users to continue paying service providers, even in the absence of services actually being provided – during the Covid-19 pandemic? Read More »

Does a service user in receipt of a long standing/approved direct payment budget need to sign a new direct payment contract every year when the funding is only increased to meet the new national minimum wage requirements?

Leave a Comment / Care Planning, Budgets and Choice Rights, Commissioner's circumstances - reductions due to financial resources difficulties & variations RE the manner of meeting needs, Contractual matters, 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, Due process requirements associated with Direct Payments and Health Budgets, Due Process requirements for revising any care or support plan based on the Care Act regime, General rules about changing the content or value of a care or a support plan based on the Care Act case law, Issues of importance to social care service providers, Legality, unlawfulness and error of law in the context of care planning, Legality, unlawfulness and error of law in the context of care planning, Public law principles relevant to care or support plan revisions, Public law principles relevant to Care Planning, Public law principles relevant to non-commissioned services, Q&As on Direct Payments, 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 /

No, the ‘contract’ with the council is not really a contract in the usual sense of the word. It’s more like a set of grant conditions without agreement to which, you won’t get a direct payment at all.  So the only reason to be signing a new one would be that the wording in the

Does a service user in receipt of a long standing/approved direct payment budget need to sign a new direct payment contract every year when the funding is only increased to meet the new national minimum wage requirements? Read More »

Do councils have any requirements for PA’s to be self-employed vs employed and is such a condition (that they be employees) lawful?

Leave a Comment / Care Planning, Budgets and Choice Rights, Contractual matters, 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, Issues of importance to social care service providers, Legality, unlawfulness and error of law in the context of care planning, Public law principles relevant to Care Planning, Public law principles relevant to non-commissioned services, Q&As on Direct Payments /

We think that some do impose such conditions and we do not think it is lawful – it’s not a prohibition against using a named individual or entity, which IS allowed for, and it’s ignoring the fact that not even the Revenue takes the position that one cannot BE a self employed PA. What matters

Do councils have any requirements for PA’s to be self-employed vs employed and is such a condition (that they be employees) lawful? 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 »

South Lanarkshire Council v Smith [19 January 2000] (unreported) (EAT)

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, Duties and Discretions, The duty to act under the Care and Support Guidance (and other such Codes or Frameworks), The range of services, items, facilities and responses able to be provided under the Care Act, Universal duties to meet eligible unmet needs adequately and appropriately /

Identification of employer – carer – degree of control – statutory duty to provide care in community S was a carer of disabled persons, B. A preliminary issue arose on her application to an employment tribunal as to whether she was employed by B or by the local authority, SLC. Dismissing the appeal, the EAT

South Lanarkshire Council v Smith [19 January 2000] (unreported) (EAT) Read More »