Your Agreement with Your Local Authority (Council)

Agreement with the Council to receive a budget under Option 1

Once someone has decided to receive a direct payment under Option 1 of SDS and to employ Personal Assistants, the Council will provide a Direct Payment Agreement. This is a legal agreement for agreeing to manage the direct payment as set out in the council’s policy. Direct Payment Agreements should be accessible and easy to understand.

The agreement will explain in detail the responsibilities that both the PA Employer and Council have. The agreement is likely to cover areas such as:

Using the direct payment to pay for things that only meet your identified needs, as they have been written in your Support Plan
What you can’t use the direct payment for
How often payments are made by the Council
Whether your direct payment will be paid into a bank account or if you will get a pre-payment card, which is like a credit card with money loaded on to it
How you will report their use of your direct payment and how much you have spent on employing your PA(s)
If the Council can reclaim any money that is not spent
Information about when payments may be stopped
If there is a Contingency Budget available to use and when you can make use of this
How often reviews will take place
That your PAs will be enrolled in the PVG scheme and an updated check undertaken before they are employed
Whether you can employ a family member as a Personal Assistant and what permission might be needed
That all tax and financial requirements will be met by you, or by a Payroll Service on your behalf
That you have Employer Liability Insurance before employing any PAs
The period of notice that can be given by you and your Council to end the agreement
Where you can get help to manage your direct payment, and where you can get independent advice.

What to do when you get a Direct Payment Agreement

When you are sent a Direct Payment Agreement, before signing you should check information is accurate. It may be a general agreement, but it could have detail that you have not yet talked about with your social work professional.

Make sure you have everything you need to be a good employer. You might want to ask more questions to find out about anything you are not sure of. For example:

is there money in your direct payment for training your PAs?
is there any money to help with recruitment costs?
what happens if you have to make a PA redundant?
where can I get support to be a PA employer?
does my direct payment cover everything I need to make sure I am following the law, for example, money to purchase employer liability insurance?
if I have a team of PAs, is there money to help me pay a PA to take on additional responsibilities, like creating PA rotas?

Next steps

It is a good idea to speak to an Independent Support Organisation in your area who can help you understand your Direct Payment Agreement. Some also provide practical help with managing a Direct Payment. You can find details of a local organisation using the Find Help search tool.

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