Direct payments: a national survey of direct payments policy and practice

Abstract

Direct payments give greater control to people assessed as needing social care or support and form a key part of the agenda for the developing social care system. But they also raise many challenges – for the individuals holding the budgets, for the people they employ, their families and other unpaid carers, local authority staff and the organisations set up to support them. As more people take up the opportunity to purchase their own services, including employing their own personal assistants, so the commissioning, provision and regulating functions of social care agencies may need to change. This report describes how local authorities across the UK are responding to the practical challenges of policy change.