Factsheet: Paying for services with direct payments

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Summary

April 2026

This factsheet explains the different ways you can use direct payments to pay for care and support.

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Your personal budget

If you are eligible for support, we may give you a personal budget. A personal budget includes:

the money that the Council will pay towards your care and support
the regular contribution that you pay towards your care, if any

What are direct payments?

You can choose to get your personal budget paid directly to you. This is a direct payment. It allows you to arrange your own care and support.

You can use direct payments to pay for support that you choose.

If you choose direct payments, we will pay you the same amount of money that we would spend if we arranged your care for you.

What can I use direct payments for?

You can use direct payments to buy anything that meets your eligible needs and has been agreed in your support plan. This might include:

employing a personal assistant
paying a home care company
short breaks in a residential care home
equipment
non-traditional services that meet your needs

Employing personal assistants

Some people use direct payments to employ personal assistants. Personal assistants can help you with:

getting up and dressed, bathing and other personal tasks
household tasks, like cleaning and tidying
taking you to appointments, activities and events

When you employ a personal assistant, you can choose who helps you, what they do and when. Your care and support can be flexible and fit in with your day-to-day needs.

Employing staff might sound complicated, but there is lots of help available.

Support with direct payments

We use a company called Independent Lives to help you with your direct payments. They can give you free information and advice on:

using direct payments to buy support
finding personal assistants, writing job descriptions and doing pre-employment checks
being a good employer and understanding any rules

Contact Independent Lives

Phone: 01903 219 482 (option 3)

Email: advice@independentlives.org

Using direct payments to pay a home care company

You can use direct payments to pay for home care directly from a care company.

You can choose which company to use, and when and how you use the hours available to you. You can arrange care that suits your schedule.

Your care manager can help you to find a good provider in your area. East Sussex 1Space is a helpful place to find services near you too:

East Sussex 1Space directory

Paying a care home for respite or a short break

You can use direct payments to buy short stays in residential care homes. This means you can arrange short breaks as and when you need them. This might be to give you or your carer a break. Your social care worker will help you find a place that suits you.

If you use direct payments to buy short breaks, we will send you a form called an ‘individual service agreement’. You must sign and return this form to say that you will use the money in the right way.

You can either:

choose a short break that costs the same as your direct payment, plus your own contribution
choose a more expensive short stay and pay extra towards this yourself

Contact the care home to book your stay. It is important to agree how much the break will cost. Make sure you are clear about any terms and conditions that apply. Most care homes will still charge you for your stay if you cancel at short notice (usually within 24 hours).

You are responsible for paying for your stay. When you pay, ask for a receipt so that you have a record of the payment.

You can use your direct payment account to pay the bill. Once you have paid, you need to call or email the direct payments team who will check your account. If another respite payment is available, we will pay this into the direct payment account.