Direct payments

How much will the Council pay towards direct payments?

How much will the Council pay towards direct payments?

The amount the Council will pay towards a direct payment will be based on the result of the adult, child's or carers assessment and unit of support (the number of hours, days, weeks or nights) that are required to meet their assessed eligible needs. Guideline direct payment rates (i.e. the amount of money the Council will pay per unit of support) will then be applied.   

Once a direct payment is approved, the details of this will be recorded in the adult, child or carer's "Care and Support Plan", or for a child, the "Child in Need or Early Help Plan". If you, or the person managing the direct payment on your behalf, need your existing direct payment rate increasing to reflect an increase in the costs of care, you will need to contact Adult Social Care on 024 7683 3003, or the Children with Disabilities team on 024 7678 7980 to request an increase. You may require a review of your needs and/or your direct payment before a decision about additional funding is made.

These rates specified below are a guide when arranging and reviewing direct payments. These rates are subject to change at any time due to inflationary increases, changes in legislation or the changes in the availability or costs of support in the local market (there are some exceptions to the guideline rates below).

Hourly direct payment rates
Direct payment type Hourly rate

Care Agency rate

£21.36 from 1/04/24

Care Agency night rate

Case by case and based on current National Living Wage requirements.

Personal Assistant rate

£16.29 from 1/04/24

Personal Assistant night rate

Case by case and based on current National Living Wage requirements.

 

Exceptions

  1. Adults, carers and parents of disabled children in receipt of direct payments can contribute towards the costs of buying a service of their choice when the cost is greater than the amount Coventry City Council is paying to them. They may also wish to contribute in order to pay a higher salary to their personal assistants.
  2. The Council can agree to pay more than the direct payment guideline rate when the direct payment recipient has no choice but to buy support from a care provider who charges more than the direct payment rate. For example, if there is only one care agency in Coventry that can meet the eligible needs of the child, adult or carer.
  3. The Council will pay less than the Council direct payment guideline rate if the care and support service the direct payment recipient chooses to buy costs less than the direct payment rate.

See the direct payment rates for other types of support in the table below.

Other direct payment rates
Type of support Rate

Day opportunities/activities

Equivalent to the average rate the Council would pay for day opportunities or short break activities to meet the eligible needs of the adult or child. This could either be a total day or an hourly rate for a personal assistant/agency (see page 1).

Replacement care (adults) or 'Short breaks' (Children with Disabilities) - weekly short break hours

Use direct hourly personal assistant/agency rates on page 1. In adults, any assessed contribution would be applied weekly and deducted from the value of the direct payment.

Short-term Residential respite (less than 4 weeks in one period) - weekly

Equivalent to the average weekly residential rate the Council would pay to meet the needs of the adult or child.

The amount could be paid weekly or one off. In adults, the assessed contribution should be applied for the number of weeks the respite is used.

Replacement care (adults) or  'Short breaks' (Children with Disabilities) - as and when required

Use the hourly rate for personal assistant/agency above and apply this to the amount of replacement care/short breaks recorded in the care and support plan, Child in Need Plan or Early Help Plan.

Examples of this type of care and support could be:

  • 4 hours per week used flexibly (1 hour one week, 6 hours another and 2 weeks no hours are used - the other hours are banked for a later point - funding is collected back at the end of the year
  • 6 hours per week term time and 10 hours per week in School holidays
  • 28 days per year
  • 1 day per month
  • 3 weekends per year

The amount could be paid weekly or one off. In adults, the assessed contribution will be applied weekly and deducted from the value of the direct payment.

One off direct payments for equipment and adaptations (not funded by Disabled Facilities Grant)

Equivalent to the standard rates paid by the Council for equipment and adaptations.

Other one off direct payments

There are no guideline direct payment rate for one offs for other purposes other than set out above. The value will need to reflect the most cost effective way to meet the adults, carers or child's needs.

If one off payments are necessary for Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) checks then £66 needs to be paid to the DP recipient to cover these costs.
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Independent Living Team

Address: Coventry City Council
PO Box 7097
Coventry
CV6 9SL

Telephone: 024 7527 0960