Personal care budgets

If you're receiving care and support from your local council, they'll set a personal budget as part of your care plan. The personal budget is the overall cost of meeting your care needs. You may be able to receive your personal budget paid to you, so you can arrange your own care.

What is a personal budget?

A personal budget is part of your care plan if the local council arrange care for you. It's the overall cost of meeting your care and support needs and is usually given as a weekly figure. The overall figure is broken down into how much, if any, you must contribute towards the cost of your care – based on a financial assessment – and the remaining amount is paid by the local council. 

Find out more about the financial assessment

How are personal budgets calculated?

When working out your personal budget, the local council must take into account the cost of meeting your individual needs, so they should avoid setting fixed amounts. The council should consider the cost of good quality care that suits your individual needs and circumstances.

For example, if the local council is meeting your needs by arranging a care home, they should consider the cost of care homes that provide the services you require to ensure your needs are met, such as specialist dementia services if you're living with dementia. Or if you need a care home in a particular location, the personal budget should reflect the costs of care homes in that location. For example, if you need a care home that's close to your family because this is important to your wellbeing.

The council should explain how it's calculated your personal budget, based on the cost of meeting your individual needs.

How is my personal budget used?

If you're eligible for care and support from the local council, they must arrange care for you based on your care plan and personal budget. However, you may have the option of having all or some of your needs met by receiving a 'direct payment'. 

What are direct payments?

A direct payment is money paid to you, based on your personal budget, to allow you to arrange your own care. Direct payments are available if your needs are going to be met in your own home or in the community, or for short-term stays in a care home. Direct payments aren't available to pay for a permanent care home placement. 

Your local council may offer you a direct payment or you can request one. The local council decides whether to provide a direct payment, based on qualifying criteria. 

If you get a direct payment, you can choose how to spend it to meet the needs set down in your agreed care plan. However, direct payments can't be used to pay for day-to-day costs such as food or utility bills. 

You can be creative with how you spend your direct payments, for example: 

• employ your own care workers
• buy services from a voluntary or private agency
• purchase other types of support to meet your assessed needs
• pay for someone to help you get to a café to meet your friends, a place of worship, to the shops, or other places that are important to you.

Even though you have control over your direct payments, the local council should still provide appropriate support, information and advice. For example, if you choose to employ a care worker directly, the council should provide you with advice and information about your responsibilities as an employer. They should regularly check that the direct payment arrangement is working for you and meeting your needs.

The council should explain any obligations you have under the arrangement. For example, you may be asked to keep receipts as proof of how you've spent your direct payment. They may ask you to set up a separate bank account for the direct payment money. 

You may find that direct payments suit you if you prefer the flexibility of being able to arrange your own care. However, direct payments should always be a choice. Your local council must never require you to have a direct payment – if you want them to arrange your care instead, they have a duty to do so.

Can someone else manage my direct payment for me? 

If you want someone to manage your direct payment for you, your local council can arrange to have it paid to a ‘nominated person’, such as your partner or family member.

If you lack mental capacity

If you lack mental capacity to manage your direct payment, your local council can arrange to pay it to an ‘authorised person’, for example a family member. They may be your power of attorney or deputy, but this is not a requirement of being an authorised person.

Your local council must be satisfied that the authorised person will use your direct payment in your best interests.

What if there's a problem with my personal budget?

If issues arise with your personal budget, it's important to know what to do. For example, you may believe your personal budget hasn't been set at a high enough amount to meet your needs, or you may have requested a direct payment but been refused.

If you can’t resolve the problem informally, for example through discussing it with your local council, you can make a formal complaint.

Find out more about how to make a formal complaint to your local council

Can someone else manage my personal budget for me?

A 'suitable person' — usually a family member or a friend — can manage a personal budget in the form of a direct payment under certain circumstances.

When someone lacks mental capacity

Direct payments are available to those who lack mental capacity as long as they have someone to manage them on their behalf. This person may have power of attorney or deputyship. Otherwise, the local council must be satisfied that you are a suitable person who will manage the money in the person's best interests.