Direct payments

Direct payments are available in England, Wales and Northern Ireland to purchase services for children, adults and carers. Councils in England may offer personal budgets to adults.

A direct payment is money given to you by social services to buy support to meet your assessed needs. You can receive a direct payment instead of receiving a service provided by social services.

A personal budget is a ‘virtual budget’ or amount of money allocated to meet your assessed needs. Individuals can decide to use their personal budget in different ways. They could be managed by the council, managed by a third party, taken as a direct payment or a combination of these options.

Receiving direct payments or a personal budget could help you to live more independently and have more control over the support you receive. For example you could have more control over who supports you and when you receive support.

The Deafblind Directory
A database of providers of services for deafblind children and adults.

Factsheets A series of factsheets about direct payments, personal budgets and purchasing your own support.
Information in BSL Information signed in British Sign Language about direct payments and purchasing your own support.
Accessible direct payments paperwork Information on accessible spreadsheets and a sample spreadsheet.
Current personalisation pilots The Government is running different pilots to try out personalisation in social care and health.
Consultation report on deafblind people and their families' experience of direct payments Sense’s 2008 report on deafblind people’s and families’ experiences of direct payments.