Personal budget
A personal budget is an amount of money granted to those who have been assessed by their local authority and deemed as someone who needs care. The personal budget amount will depend on the service user’s financial circumstances.
If you are eligible for a personal budget, you can either choose to direct your local authority on how to spend this budget on your behalf, or you can receive your personal budget as a direct payment.
Both options are explained below:
- Direct Payment – personal budget payments are made directly to the service user (or a trust fund managed by a family member, friend or social worker) so that care may be purchased from a care provider such as ourselves. For more information on direct payments visit the NHS Choices website.
- Individual Service Fund – if a service user (or the person responsible for their care) is unable or unwilling to manage direct payments, the local authority will commission the services of a care provider such as ourselves and pay for the support directly. The service user still has complete control over how this money is spent.