Direct payments and self directed support

You can now get more involved in choosing the type of social care support you want, so you have more control over your services and tailor them to suit your needs.

There are two systems which can help you do this – Direct Payments and Self Directed Support.

Direct payments are available now. These are local council payments for people who have been assessed as needing social care support, and who would like to choose and pay for their own services instead of receiving them straight from the local council.

Self directed support will be introduced soon, and is designed to help people take control of their entire social care budget, manage their own support and choose the services that suits them best using the money from different areas more flexibly. With self directed support you can choose to have some services provided by Adult Social Care in addition to employing people directly.