Personal budgets
Care Act 2014
Outline of content
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Introduction
Elements of the personal budget
Calculating the personal budget
Agreeing the final budget
Use of a personal budget
Use of a carer’s personal budget
Appeals/disputes
Summary
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Introduction
 The Care Act places personal budgets into law for the first time, making
them the norm for people with care and support needs.
 Personal budgets enable the person to:
 exercise greater choice
 take control over how their care and support needs are met
 It is vital that people:
 are clear how their budget was calculated
 have confidence that the personal budget allocation is correct and
therefore sufficient to meet their care and support needs
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Personal budgets
Care Act
2014
Personal
Health
Budgets
Personal
Budgets
Improving
Life
Chances of
Disabled
People
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Personal budgets: evaluation of
impact
 Increase in numbers of people receiving personal budgets, in March
2014, 648,000 people had one
 The POET survey (2013) gained data from 22 volunteer councils with
responses from 2022 personal budget holders and 1386 carers
 70% of personal budget holders reported a positive impact:
 independent as you want to be
 getting the support you need and want
 being supported with dignity
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Care and support planning
Third
party
Local
authority
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Elements of the personal budget
 The personal budget must always be an amount sufficient to meet the
person’s care and support needs
 The overall cost must be broken down into:
 the amount the person must pay (following the financial
assessment)
 the remainder of the budget that the authority will pay
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Other costs that may be presented
or excluded
Presented
• Local authority brokerage fee
Presented
• Any additional payment or a “top-up”
Excluded
• Costs for intermediate care or
reablement must be excluded
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Calculating the personal budget
Transparency
Timeliness
Sufficiency
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Sufficiency of the personal budget
and implications for direct payment
 The personal budget must:
 always be sufficient
 reflect the cost to the local authority of meeting the person’s needs
 be open to challenge
 Direct payments are not intended to be less than is required to
purchase care and support on the local market
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Agreeing the final budget
 The final budget should be agreed at the end of the planning process
 Sign off should take place if
 the plan is within the indicative budget (or justifiably above it)
 the proposed use of the money is:
 appropriate
 legal
 meets the needs identified in assessment
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Use of a personal budget
Third party
managed PB
(ISF)
Local authority
managed PB
Direct
payments
Mixed package
Maximum
possible
range of
options
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Use of a carer’s personal budget
The carer’s personal budget must
enable the
continuation of
the carer role
take into account
carer outcomes
have regard to
carer wellbeing
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Implications for the personal budget
of the person needing care
A carer’s need
for support can
be met by
providing care
to the person
they care for
Consider
joint plans
and budget
The person would
be liable to pay
any charge, and
must agree to do
so
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Carers’ personal budgets where the
adult being cared for does not have
eligible needs
 In these situations a carer will receive a support plan specifying:
 how the carer’s needs are going to be met
 and including a personal budget
 The personal budget must specify the costs to the local authority and
the costs to the carer
 Replacement care costs have to be met by the person receiving care
.
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Appeals/disputes
 The local authority must make its own arrangements for dealing with
complaints in accordance with the 2009 regulations
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Summary
 The Act places personal budgets into law for the first time, making them
the norm for people with care and support needs
 Personal budgets are designed to enable people to exercise greater
choice and take control over how their care and support needs are met
 The personal budget must:
 always be sufficient to meet the person’s care and support needs
 include the cost to the local authority and the amount the person
must pay
 exclude the provision of intermediate care and reablement
 The carers personal budget must enable the continuation of the carer
role and must have regard to the wellbeing principle of the act
 The local authority is under an ongoing duty to keep the person’s plan
and personal budget under review
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