What is Direct Payment?

What is Direct Payment?
Listen A Direct Payment is money your Social Services Department can give you. It is a new way of getting the support you need. You use it to buy the services you want. Social Services give you the money instead of providing a care service. You spend the money on getting support that meets your needs.

You can have support during the day instead of going to a day centre. You can have support to live in your own home, instead of living in a care home.
	You can have your own support worker, sometimes called a personal assistant, instead of using services.
You can have a Direct Payment for all your support, or for part of it. If you only want a Direct Payment for part of your support, social services will arrange services for the rest of it.

A Direct Payment does not affect your benefits. You cannot spend a Direct Payment on things like clothes and food. You must spend it on getting the support you have been assessed as needing.


You have to arrange your own support using the Direct Payment, but you can have help to do that.
A Direct Payment means that you can choose what you want. You are in control.