What is a Direct Payment? A direct payment is money that Adults and Communities can give you for you to buy the services that you need. We give you the money instead of providing or arranging the services you have been assessed as needing. You spend the money on getting the support that meets your needs, such as employing personal care assistants from an agency. You can have a direct payment for all your support, or for part of it. If you only want a direct payment for part of your support, we will arrange services for the rest of it. Direct payments will be ignored in the calculation of income related social security benefits. They will also be ignored when maintenance is assessed by the Child Support Agency. The Inland Revenue does not count them as income for tax purposes. Receiving direct payments does not mean that you have to live on your own, or that you have to be able to manage your affairs without any help. If just means you can decide who provides you with your support, how they do it, and when they do it.

For Further Information You can find out more about direct payments, including who is eligible for the service, by downloading a selection of our leaflets from our Leaflets and Public Information web page. Other general information about direct payments is available from the Department of Health website which produces some helpful booklets: "An Easy Guide to Direct Payments" - also available on tape, CD "A Parent's Guide to Direct Payments (summary)" - a guide to having more control over your child's services "A guide to Receiving Direct Payments" - this is a useful booklet in English and community languages, Braille and on tape in English. You can also get free copies of of these leaflets from: Department of Health PO Box 77 London SE1 6XH Fax: 01623 724 524 Email: doh@prolog.uk.com