Guide to personal budgets

You may be eligible for a personal budget from your local council in order to help pay for your care needs. You can request an assessment from your council to establish your needs. The money in your personal budget can be paid to you rather than being held by the council. This give you more control about how to use it. When a personal budget is paid to you it is known as a ‘direct payment’.

Who can get a personal budget?

Anyone who needs social care or support or anyone who is a carer can be eligible for a personal budget. These require two different assessments before being granted.

Needs Assessment

You will need to organise a needs assessment to assess your needs, work out the costs and your ability to pay for the support that you need. This assessment is free and you can apply for a needs assessment here.

You can find out more about what a needs assessment entails here

Carers Assessment

A carer needs a separate assessment which can help with the costs and stresses of being a carer. You can organise a carers assessment by ringing your local social services team. The assessment is free.

Your Personal Budget

Your personal budget can be

• Managed by the council
• Paid to a care providing organisation
• Pay the money to you directly or to someone you request

You can mix and match these options as you see fit.

By managing the money yourself you can have more control over your care, who cares for you or even what you spend the money on. As long as it meets your care plan in the needs assessment you can use the money for all sorts of different things. Often personal alarms such as the YourStride watch can be paid for through personal budgets as they can be listed in your care plan.

You will have to submit evidence for what you have spent your money on every three months but other than this there is not too much administration required.

To find out more about Personal Alarms and how they could help support you please click here