Pay for care at home

Find out about personal budgets and how you can arrange support with a direct payment.

Personal budget

If you qualify for help to pay for your care, you will receive a personal budget. This is the amount of money we will pay towards your care and support. 

We will create a support plan that shows how your personal budget will be used to meet your needs. You will then decide how your care is arranged and how your money is spent. 

You can ask us to arrange your care for you and manage your personal budget or pay the money to you. You can also choose to have a combination of each option. 

If we arrange your care 

If we spend your personal budget for you, we will arrange your care and support based on your agreed care plan. 

You can still have a say in how your personal budget is spent. 

Unless your assessment shows that you do not need to pay anything, we will bill you for the care and support that you receive, every 4 weeks. 

You will only be billed for the amount that your financial assessment says you can afford. 

If you arrange your care with a direct payment

Your personal budget can be paid directly to you, so that you can arrange and pay for your own care. This is called a direct payment.

It can give you more choice and flexibility over your care.

You can choose for your direct payment to be paid into:

• a prepaid card account (we will open this for you) 
• your own bank or building society account (you’ll need to open a new account)

If you’re interested in direct payments you can call us on 0208 547 5005 to find out if it's suitable for you.

Spending your money

There are lots of different ways that you can choose to spend the money, but you need to make sure you’re spending it on things that are agreed in your care and support plan. 

You’ll need to sign a Direct Payment Agreement. This explains the rules about how you can spend it. 

Checking your spending 

We will check what you’ve spent your money on every 3 months, so you will need to keep all receipts, invoices and other paperwork safe. 

Help to spend your money 

If you need help to manage your direct payment, we can arrange assistance for you and make sure that you know what to do. 

If you need support to arrange care with a direct payment, you can speak to Kingston Centre for Independent Living.

You can also ask someone else to manage your direct payment on your behalf, such as a friend or family member. 

Checking you’re happy

We will contact you once your direct payment has been set up, to check that everything is going well. We’ll phone you every year after that. 

If anything has changed, you must contact us. We’ll talk to you about reassessing your needs.