If you have care and support needs, you may qualify for a personal budget . This is the money the council believes is sufficient to meet some or all of your eligible needs. You can find out more about it on our ‘Paying for your care’ page.
Read more on our Paying for Care page
A personal budget puts you, or someone you trust, in control of the care and support you receive. This means you can:
- consider what personal goals you have
- find care and support services that will help you meet those goals
- spend your personal budget on the care and support services that you feel will best meet your needs
- enjoy the flexibility of being able to access care and support services, whenever and wherever is best for you
What are Direct Payments?
A Direct Payment is a personal budget given to you by the council to allow you to pay for some of your own support.
Why choose Direct Payments?
- Flexibility - Choose the support which best meets your needs and lifestyle
- Control – be in charge of your own budget and make decisions about your support arrangements
- Personalised - Tailor your support to meet your unique needs and preferences. Enjoy greater independence in managing your own support
Can I receive Direct Payments?
Direct Payments are available to:
- Adults with assessed eligible needs
- Young people moving from Children’s to Adult Services
- Carers (including young carers) who need support
There are alternatives to Direct Payments:
Find out about Individual Service Funds
Find out about Funding Your Own Care
Find out about having the Council Arrange Your Care
Are you:
- a carer? Learn more about becoming a carer.
- already in receipt of a personal budget? Learn how we can support you.
Transitioning from Children's' to Adults
If you have had a 'Children’s’ Direct Payment' you may wish to continue that arrangement once you become an adult.
An assessment of your needs will need to be carried out by a case worker. They will review whether you are eligible for social care support and services. If you are eligible, the case worker will support you to transition to Adults Direct Payment.
Visit the Direct Payments information for children and young people
Keeping in touch
Please ensure that the Direct Payments team has your email address, so that we can send you updates quickly, and reach you if there is an issue. If you do not have an email address yourself, please provide us with the email address of a trusted friend or family member, or your PA.
Please send it to us at DirectPaymentsAdviceTeam@cornwall.gov.uk
We also have a regular newsletter. You can sign up to receive it if you receive Direct Payments yourself, or on behalf of someone else. You are also welcome to sign up if you are connected with someone who received Direct Payments. View the latest newsletter on our Direct Payments pages
How it works
There's a process that we must follow before you can be given a personal budget or Direct Payment:
1. Needs assessment
A social worker will assess your care needs, and see if you are eligible for Direct Payments. They will discuss a Care Plan with you, including things you want to be able to do, and the support you will need to achieve those things.
There is more information on our factsheet about how to manage your own support at home.
Manage your own support at home factsheet
2. Care and support plan
If you are eligible, you will be contacted by a Direct Payments Officer, to start setting it up with you. They will discuss how best to achieve the things in your Care Plan, depending on what you want to achieve, and the care needs that you have. This might be:
- attending activities in different places, like cooking or music lessons
- buying necessary equipment
- by employing one or more personal assistants
This will give us an ‘indicative budget’, which is an estimate of what the Council believes should be enough to pay for the care you need. After the Care and Support plan is complete, the Indicative Budget becomes the set Personal Budget .
The Direct Payments Officer will provide advice if you have chosen to arrange a care agency or employ your own staff. If you choose to work with a care agency, we strongly recommend that they are CQC registered. You can find available care agencies in Cornwall using the CQC webpage. Visit CQC website for more information.
You can find other local support by using the links on our Community Directory.
3. Financial assessment
You will have a Financial Assessment to look at your financial situation.
Visit our financial assessment page
Unlike health care, adult social care is not free. The financial assessment will determine how much you need to pay towards the cost of your care. Most people must contribute something towards their care, and some are required to pay the full amount.
This is called the assessed contribution. You must pay your assessed contribution into your Direct Payment account regularly.
You can ask for a financial assessment from the team, or do it yourself, online.
4. Your final person budget amount
We'll look at your care and support plan to check we are happy with how you have planned to spend your personal budget. We’ll then approve it.
You'll receive a letter from us shortly after your financial assessment to confirm:
- how much money is required for your care needs to be met - this is known as your personal budget
- the weekly amount you must contribute towards your personal budget
Ways to receive your personal budget
It is your choice how you receive your personal budget. You have three options:
Option 1 - Managed by you or someone you nominate
You’ll receive a Direct Payment from us and manage your own budget as a Direct Payment. You could also have someone manage it for you, such as a family member or good friend.
This option gives you the most control over your budget, including the responsibility of employing your own staff (if you need any).
Visit our Direct Payments pages
Option 2 - Managed by a third party
We can manage your personal budget and arrange your care for you.
This is a good option if you are worried about managing money and/or staff, and you would prefer for someone to arrange your care for you.
Option 3 - Managed by the council
We can manage your personal budget and arrange your care for you.
This is a good option if you are worried about managing money and/or staff, and you would prefer for someone to arrange your care for you.
Option 4 - Would you prefer to have a combination?
If you would like to manage some services yourself, and ask us, or a third party, to manage the others, please speak with your social care professional. They'll discuss your requirements and make the necessary arrangements
Making sure everything is running smoothly – reviews and checking
Once your Direct Payment is set up, you will be able to use the funds as agreed and explore how best to make that work for you.
The Direct Payment Officer will arrange an initial review within the first three months to check how things are going. An annual review is then arranged. We may advise a different review period for you, but this will be discussed following your initial meeting.
What is it like to have a Direct Payment?
Many people in different situations have been using Direct Payments for several years. Click here to watch and read their stories.
Direct Payment Customer Stories
More information about Direct Payments
The Direct Payments Policy sets out our approach for adults who:
- have eligible needs
- want to arrange their care and support with a Direct Payment
- and management and monitoring / review of the Direct Payments for adults
Read the Direct Payment Policy
Read the Direct Payment Policy Easy Read Guide
Read the Direct Payments Leaflet
Direct Payments – Where it all started
Applying the principles of the Independent Living movement during the 1980s, some individuals and groups were able to successfully negotiate a financial package which enabled them to move out of the institutions they lived in and into the community. This was achieved by coming to a social and financial agreement with their Local Authorities based on an assessment of their needs. The money was used to pay for the support they needed through employing their own personal assistants. (These were paid via a 3rd party provider because it was unlawful to pay cash in lieu of services to an individual).