We don't have a lot of specific rules about what you can buy using direct payments. You must be able to show that whatever you buy:
- meets the support needs we have identified in your assessment
- meets the outcomes set out in your support plan in a cost-effective way.
If you are in any doubt, you should talk to your care manager or contact us (below).
There are three main ways of using direct payments:
Employing your own staff to help you
You can hire your own professional care staff to support you at home, helping with personal care or household tasks.
Employing staff through an agency
You can employ staff through a provider that is independent of East Sussex Council. These are often called home care agencies.
This means you get to choose the company that gives you support rather than us choosing the company for you.
Paying for other types of support
As well as support with things like personal care, you might, for example, want to go out more to see family or friends or to keep active. Direct payments can be used towards the costs of doing these sorts of things.
If you need a piece of equipment to help you live more independently, and you choose an item not available from our equipment store, you can buy it using direct payments.
What direct payments must not be used for
If you choose to have direct payments you will be responsible for making sure that you use the money to meet your support needs and not for any other purpose.
If you are using direct payments to buy services or support for a disabled child we must be satisfied that the services you choose are in the child's best interests.
You cannot use direct payments to buy:
- services directly provided by Adult Social Care (we are not allowed to sell our services in this way)
- permanent residential care
- services or support from your partner or a close relative
- NHS services
- housing services
- benefits
- goods or services that do not fit with what has been agreed in your support plan.
Help, enquiries and useful links
East Sussex County Council