A direct payment is money your council pays you so you can arrange your own care. You decide who provides it, when they come, and how the support fits your routine. You can use a direct payment to pay Helping at Home directly. If the council’s rate is below ours, you can top up the difference privately.
How direct payments differ from a council-arranged package
If your needs assessment confirms you’re eligible for funded care, your council offers you a choice.
A council-arranged package means the council picks a provider from its approved list, agrees the care plan with them, and you pay your assessed contribution back to the council. You have less choice over who provides care.
A direct payment means the council works out how much care your assessment says you need, converts that into a weekly budget, and pays it to you. You then pay a provider yourself. You have more choice, more control, and more admin.
Most families we work with who go down the funded route choose a direct payment, because it lets them pick the provider, set the visit pattern, and adjust things as needs change.
What you can spend a direct payment on
The rules vary slightly by council, but in Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire a direct payment can be used to pay for:
- A regulated home care provider like Helping at Home
- A directly employed personal assistant
- Equipment or services agreed in your care plan
- Short breaks or other support that meets your assessed needs
You cannot usually use it to pay a family member who lives with you, unless the council agrees there are exceptional reasons. You cannot use it for things that aren’t in your care plan.
Setting one up
The process runs through your social worker after your needs and financial assessments are complete. Step by step:
- Your needs assessment confirms you’re eligible for funded care.
- Your financial assessment sets your contribution (which may be zero).
- Your social worker agrees a personal budget with you, expressed as a weekly amount.
- You decide between a direct payment, a council-arranged package, or a mix.
- If you choose a direct payment, you open a separate bank account for it.
- The council pays into that account on a regular schedule.
- You pay your provider (or personal assistant) from it.
In Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire, setup usually takes a few weeks. Both councils offer a direct payment support service that can help with payroll if you employ someone directly. If you use a regulated provider like us, we invoice the direct payment account and you don’t have to think about payroll or pension contributions for staff.
Topping up
The local authority rate in Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire is typically £18 to £25 per hour for non-residential care. Helping at Home’s standard rate is £31 per hour. If you want us to provide your care, you have two options:
- Use the full hourly equivalent of your direct payment with us, fewer hours than the council assessed. Possible but means less care than your plan said you needed.
- Top up the gap. Your direct payment covers the council rate, you pay us the difference. Most families take this route because the assessed hours are usually what’s actually needed.
Top-ups for home care are common and the rules are straightforward. This is different from care home top-ups, where there are restrictions on who can top up and how.
How we work with direct payments
Once your direct payment is in place, the practical side with Helping at Home is simple.
You sign a service agreement with us at our standard hourly rate. We invoice you (or your direct payment account) weekly or monthly. Your direct payment pays the council-rate portion, you pay the top-up portion. We can talk to your social worker, your direct payment support service, or your appointed representative if you’d like us to.
Your care plan is built and reviewed the same way it would be for a self-funder. Your assessed needs from the council assessment feed into it, plus the daily detail you and your family tell us.
What if circumstances change
Direct payments are reviewed by the council, usually annually but more often if there’s a change. A hospital stay, a fall, or a clear change in your family member’s condition can all trigger a re-assessment of both needs and finances. We’re used to working through these reviews and can support the conversation with your social worker if you’d like.
If your assessed needs go up, your direct payment usually goes up to match. If your savings or income change, your contribution may change. Neither of these has to mean a change of provider.
What to do next
If you’ve already been told you can have a direct payment and want to talk through how it works with Helping at Home, call 01636 646915. If you’re earlier in the process and not sure whether a direct payment is right for your family, we can talk through both routes and what they’d look like in practice.
