Direct Payments, Personal Budgets & Personal Health Budgets

A Personal Budget is the amount of money the social care team in your Local Authority will pay towards any social care and support you need.  

The team will carry out a needs assessment first and develop a support plan to determine: 

• what kind of care and support you need  
• how much it will cost  
• how much you're able to afford yourself  

They will then decide what your Personal Budget should be.  

A Personal Health Budget (PHB) is an amount of money to support your health and wellbeing needs, which is planned and agreed between you (or someone who represents you) and your local NHS team. It is not new money, but it may mean spending money differently so that you can get the care that you need.  

A PHB allows you to manage your healthcare and support such as treatments, equipment and personal care, in a way that suits you. It works in a similar way to personal budgets, which allow people to manage and pay for their social care needs.  

For some people, an integrated personal budget may be awarded, when the person has needs that are both health and social care related, and these are co-funded between the Local Authority and the NHS Team.  

You can ask the Local Authority or NHS Team to pay the money directly to you or someone you choose – this is known as a Direct Payment. You get the money to buy the care and support you and your Social Care or NHS team agree you need. You must show what you have spent it on, but you, or your representative, buy and manage services yourself.  

Alternatively you can ask the Local Authority or NHS Team to:  

• manage your Personal Budget or Personal Health Budget for you (this is known as a notional budget)  
• pay the money to another organisation – such as a care provider (this is known as a managed budget)  

A Personal Health Budget is for your NHS healthcare and support needs.    

A Personal Budget is for your social care and support needs. An integrated personal budget is for both your healthcare and support needs and social care needs.    

A direct payment is one way of managing these budgets, when you get the money directly to buy the agreed care and support you need rather than the Social Care or NHS Teams arranging it for you.