How will the local authority pay me?

It is up to your local authority to decide how often and how it makes direct payments. For instance, your Self Directed Support (SDS) payment may be paid monthly or every three months in advance into a bank account, or a pre-paid card account. Your Local Authority may also require you to provide accounts of how you have used your SDS payment, and if so a form will be provided for this, along with advice on how to fill it in.

How much will I get?

This will depend on what has been agreed in terms of the support you need. If you decide to directly employ personal assistants, your care manager will be able to tell you the rate that they will give you, which will be one of the following:

• Standard rate
• Enhanced rate
• Exceptional rate
• Respite sleepover.

You may be able to get the enhanced rate if you have complex needs and the exceptional rate for very complex needs. If you decide to employ your own personal assistants, your SDS payment will include money so that you can pay Employer’s National Insurance contribution.

The SDS payment will also include an extra 18% of your total weekly costs on top of this. This is to ensure that you can meet your responsibilities as an employer and will pay for extra costs such as your personal assistants’ annual leave and sickness absence cover. You will also get ‘start-up’ money to cover the cost of initially recruiting your personal assistants.

If you want to use an agency, your local authority will agree a rate with you – you may have to help pay for some of your services and support but this will be worked out by a financial assessment.

Will I have to pay towards my SDS payments?

Depending on how much money you have, social services may ask you to pay for some of your services. This is called ‘charging for care’ and each local area has its own policy about this.

Your care coordinator or social services will do a financial assessment to decide if you have to pay. They will look at your income, savings and any property you own. If you have to pay anything, your local authority will take this money from your SDS payments or ask you to pay them back.  

If they take the money from your SDS payments, you may have less to spend on services and you will have to pay the difference.

What if I would like expensive services?

Your SDS payments should be enough to buy a service that meets your needs, so this means that if the service costs more than your SDS payments, you will need to pay the difference.