Direct Payments
Direct Payments mean you can buy your own care. If you're a parent, you can buy care for your child. You can take control of your own or your child's support arrangements, giving you:
- Choice
- Control
- Flexibility
This means that you get the assistance you want, when you want it, and from the person you have chosen.
Who can receive Direct Payments?
With Direct Payments for children you must be willing and able to manage the payments (with support if required), and:
- Be a parent of a disabled child, or
- Be a disabled young person aged 16 to 17 years old, or
- Be a young carer aged 16 years or 17 years, or
- Have a disability and a parental responsibility for a child, or
- You and/or your child have been assessed as needing support
With Direct Payments for adults you must be willing and able to manage the direct payments (with support if required), and:
- Be over 18 and assessed as needing community care services, or
- Be over 16 and have a disability, or
- Be a carer of someone with a disability who has been assessed as needing support and
Can I get help to manage my Direct Payments?
There are companies that will administer your Direct Payments for you for a small charge.
Which providers can I use?
Apart from certain restrictions, you can use Direct Payments to get help from wherever you want. Many people employ someone directly to provide their care; many others have a "management company" take care of managing their payments, and many use companies who specialise in particular areas of care.
Visit our Providers and management companies for more details.
Who can't receive Direct Payments?
You can't get Direct Payments if you are excluded under the regulations - for example, you are detained under certain mental health legislation. Check with the Direct Payments team to see if you're eligible.
What can you spend your Direct Payments on?
Once we have arranged a care plan, you can meet your Social Worker or Care Manager and a Direct Payments officer, to discuss what you can buy with your Direct Payments. You can spend the money on anything that provides you with social care support. Check with the Direct Payments team for more detail.
Conditions of Direct Payments
You can't use Direct Payments to:
- Employ anyone living in your household
- Buy services from the council, the Health Authority or South Tyneside Homes
What happens next?
You need an assessment to see if Direct Payments can be offered as an option for care services. If you are interested, speak with your Social Worker or Care Manager.
If you need more information about this, contact the Direct Payments team.
What happens when I've been assessed?
Once you or your child have been assessed as needing care services, a Direct Payments Officer will visit you at home to provide more detail and explain the scheme to you. If you decide to go ahead, the Direct Payments Officer will handle the process with you.
They can provide:
- Initial information
- Employer information
- Help with paperwork
- Payroll service (if required)
- Leaflets and fact sheets
- Access to support groups of young people/ families in a similar situation to your own, which you will be invited to
