What is an individual and personal budget?

An individual and personal budget pays for the support you need so you can continue to live independently.

An individual budget

An individual budget is money for support that could come from several sources including social services and the Independent Living Fund; and healthcare, housing-related support and disabled facilities grants.

A personal budget

A personal budget is money that comes from your local authority.

For an individual and personal budget, the person and their circle of support must:

· Know how much money they have for their support.
· Be able to spend the money to meet their needs and aspirations in ways and at times that make sense to them.
· Know what outcomes must be achieved with the money.

 

Lifeways refers to individual and personal budgets but what is the difference between them?

At Lifeways we refer to individual and personal budgets as being one budget because to many people they mean the same thing.

The main difference is how the budget is funded.

 

What is self directed support?

Self directed support is a flexible way of providing support and care services.

It allows you to personalise the support you receive and enables you to:

· Have more choice and flexibility over your support.
· Obtain the funding to buy your own services.
· Choose the services which meet your needs and aspirations, allowing you to live the life you want to live.
· Manage your own support.

 

Am I entitled to receive an individual and personal budget?

Anyone who receives social care funding can opt for an individual and personal budget. We are here to help throughout the process of obtaining and managing your individual and personal budget.

We can help, even if it’s not something we provide directly.

We can provide information, support and point you in the right direction, to help you:

• Find out how much money you are entitled to
• Develop your support plan
• Get your plan agreed
• Manage your money in the way that suits you
• Organise your support
• Live your life
• Review and adapt your support plan to make sure your individual and personal budget works for you

 

How will I be assessed to see if I am entitled to an individual and personal budget and how much is the budget?

You will need to undertake a care needs and financial assessment by your local authority to see what support you require and how much money you are entitled to.

This is a relatively quick and straightforward assessment.

Your care manager, family and support network can help you to complete the assessment.

It informs the local authority care provider what support it would normally provide and how much it would cost and is often referred to as a resource allocation.

It is then clear what money is available to meet your support needs allowing you to develop your support plan.

 

What is included in a support plan?

The next stage after the care needs and financial assessment, and before you’re able to obtain your personal and individual budget, is to create a support plan.

This plan will detail how you would like to live your life and how you will spend your budget.

The plan includes the specific goals you would like to achieve. It will detail:

· How you will your arrange your support
· How you will you spend your money
· How you will you manage your support

Once you’ve written your plan, it will need to be approved by your local authority who will check that it meets both your short and long term needs.

The plan will be reviewed at key stages as detailed in your plan.

 

Who looks after the money?

You can manage your money yourself or someone can do it for you. You will need to keep a record of how the money has been spent and there is support available to help with this.

 

What is a direct payment?

A direct payment is money that is paid directly to you into your bank, building society, post office or national savings account, so that you can arrange your own support to fund the support and care services that have been agreed with your local authority.

As well as having a direct payment, you may also receive services provided by your local authority and/or have support from other sources.

Do I need to have a direct payment?

Direct payments are not the only option available to you to receive your individual and personal budget. We can help you to understand the options available, including choosing someone else to manage the money for you.

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