Direct Payments and Personal Budgets
What is a Personal Budget?
Personal Budgets are designed to give children and young people and their families more control over the services they receive and how they are organised.
- More detail is contained within the Personal Budgets Policy for children and young people (0-25 years) with special education needs (PDF, 129KB) and the Personal Budget Update (PDF, 413KB).
Arrangements for Personal Budgets
There are 4 ways in which a Personal Budget can be made available to the child or young person or to the family acting on their behalf.
These are:
- a direct payment; where individuals receive the cash to contract, purchase and manage services themselves
- the Local Authority, NHS Haringey, school or college hold the funds and commissions the support specified in the plan. This is also known as a notional arrangement
- third-party arrangements whereby funds (direct payments) are paid to and managed by an individual or other organisation on behalf of the child/family of the child or young person
- a combination of the above 3 options
What is happening in Haringey?
Currently Haringey can give personal budgets – via direct payments or a budget – for respite (or short breaks) and support, and for transport to and from school. In some cases where a child has complex health needs, a personal budget for care at home and school can be provided.
- More information about short breaks is available on the Short Breaks page.
We are working with families and service providers to widen the availability of personal budgets to nursing support at home for children with highly complex medical needs who receive continuing care.
What are Direct Payments?
If you have community care services from the Council, you can choose to have payments to arrange your own care in a way that suits you best. These payments are called Direct Payments.
Direct Payments help people to have more independence, choice, and control over when, where and how they get some services. This might be by choosing and employing a carer or personal assistant.
Carers and personal assistants
If you choose to have a direct payment or personal budget, because the money is paid to you to arrange the services you will become an employer and have responsibilities like an employer.
The council can tell you about organisations that can help with employer responsibilities like recruiting and paying carers.
Find out more at the GOV.UK Direct Payments page (external link).
