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1 Direct Payments information from Devon County Council Adult and Community Services DIRECT PAYMENTS Information and Guidance 1

2 Contents Page Number 1. What does this booklet cover? 2 2. Sources of help 2 3. Setting up and managing a bank account 4. What your direct payment covers Start-up expenses 3 6. Contingency payments for emergencies 3 7. The Criminal Records Check 3 8. Retainers for personal assistants 3 9. Record Keeping Completion of money tracker How your financial records will be checked Overpayments What to do if things go wrong 8 14 Information checklist 8-9 Money Tracker Form Timesheet 2

3 1. What does this booklet cover? This booklet gives information about what your Direct Payments cover; the points you should consider when employing personal assistants and why financial records are necessary and also how to set them up. 2. Sources of help Help to manage your direct payments can be sought from your: Independent Living Advisor Customer Service Centre Other sources of information are mentioned under each heading throughout this booklet. 3. Opening and Managing your bank account You must open a separate bank account to manage your direct payments. A letter is available to give to the bank or building society where you intend to open an account is enclosed with this guidance. Your direct payments will be paid into this account and payments for your care will be paid out of it. In this booklet we call this your direct payment account. You must only use it for payments for your care or your child s care. You can also pay any other money you receive for care (such as from the Independent Living Fund or Supporting People money) into this account. If you and your partner both have direct payments you need a separate bank/building society account each for your direct payments. We recommend that you consider appointing a person who has Enduring Power of Attorney to be a signatory to your account and oversee payments on your behalf should you need to go into hospital for example. We also advise that you have a will in place to enable an Executor (who can be the same person as the Enduring Power of Attorney) to handle your affairs. 4. What your Direct Payment covers Your direct payment will equal the amount of money which Devon Social Services considers to be the reasonable cost for the services you need. If you choose to employ personal assistants or if you buy assistance from an agency which charges more than this amount, you must make up the difference. If you employ a personal assistant, the direct payment is expected to cover any costs you have as an employer, such as holiday and bank holiday pay, National Insurance contributions and employer's liability insurance. 3

4 5. Start-up expenses When you first receive direct payments we can help with the costs involved in starting up. This one-off payment can help you arrange criminal record checks, recruitment (including advertising and Employers Liability Insurance) and training personal assistants. Please talk to your Independent Living Advisor if you need help with this. Employers Liability Insurance will need to be paid every year. 6. Contingency Payment (emergencies) With your first direct payment you will also receive a contingency payment. This will be the same amount as one week's direct payment. You should keep this contingency payment in your direct payment bank or building society account it is for you to use in emergency situations, such as: If an unpaid carer is ill and you have to employ a replacement; To pay the first period of sickness pay for a personal assistant until you can reclaim it from the Inland Revenue. Your care manager will provide useful contacts for accessing domiciliary help at short notice. If you have access to the internet a useful site address is If you have to use some or all of the contingency payment, please tell your local Social Services office and they will arrange for the amount you have spent to be replaced. If you receive only a one-off direct payment, you will not receive a contingency payment. 7. Criminal Records Bureau We strongly recommend that you arrange a Criminal Records Bureau check for any personal assistants you may wish to employ. You can obtain the relevant forms from your Independent Living Advisor. 8. Retainers for personal assistants If you are away from home and do not need your personal assistant you may wish to continue to employ them. For example we will continue to pay you for up to two weeks, in the case of a hospital admission. Please refer to clause 3.2 within your agreement for further information. 4

5 9. Record Keeping It is important that you manage your direct payments to ensure that you get the care agreed in your or your child s care plan. Each month you should complete your Money Tracker form (details about this in section 10) to record what you spend your direct payment on. You will be advised how frequently you need to send in these forms. You can keep written records or use a computer. The information in this booklet applies to both. With computerised records you need to take precautions against losing or not having access to your records if your computer breaks down. You should keep paper copies of your monthly records or save the data to the hard drive of your computer and back it up each time you update it. This will save you work if you need to reconstruct any lost, corrupted, or inaccessible records. Although we will not ask you to send in your receipts, invoices and supporting paperwork you must keep these in the event that we may wish to see them. If you employ your own staff (even if they are only temporary) you will also need: A signed Inland Revenue P45 or P46 for each of your staff; Individual deductions working sheets (P11s) or supporting paperwork if salaries are paid using a payroll computer system. the Contracts of employment for each individual; Time sheets. (See the sample copy at the end of this booklet); Your Independent Living Advisor will help you with these things. All payments for care should be made by cheque where possible. Do not make cheque payments from your direct payment bank or building society account that are not for services to meet your assessed social care needs. If you give cash to anyone to make purchases on your behalf, you should ask them to sign a petty cash receipt for the amount handed over. This will help to avoid any unnecessary disputes about the amount of cash paid and received. Small duplicate cash books can be purchased from most stationery suppliers. You must have the original paperwork to back up each payment you make i.e. invoices, receipts. Before making the payment you should check that: The invoice(s) show the name and full address of the supplier; It adds up correctly; It is for services you have already received; The payment is due and you haven t already paid it. 5

6 As soon as the cheque has been written, write the date, cheque number and amount onto the invoice, receipt or claim for. This helps to ensure that you don t pay them again. Salaries and wages -If you pay staff, it is important that you comply with the relevant employment and tax laws such as PAYE redundancy payments. If you do not comply with these laws you may have to pay expensive interest and penalty payments, or possibly have legal action taken against you. Your independent living advisor cannot give advice on this but can help you access information i.e. how to contact your local Tax Office (Inland Revenue) for help. If you employ someone, you must remember to take account of National Insurance and PAYE (Income Tax) contributions. You will need to find out how much these will cost you. If you need help with employing your own staff, the Inland Revenue can advise you. They also have a New Employers Helpline, Tel: , or go to the website Employment Law- Employment law gives employees, and to a lesser extent workers, a number of rights and protections. Some rights apply to all employees as soon as they start work; others depend on factors such as length of service and continuity of employment. If you employ Personal Assistants you have a responsibility to comply with applicable Employment legislation. Your ILA can signpost you to sources of information such as the Department of Trade & industry that produce a wide range of booklets, fact sheets and leaflets (most are free). The web address is and the helpline telephone is All financial records need to be kept for a period of seven years (that is, the current year's records, plus the previous six years). You must do this even if you stop receiving direct payments. 6

7 10. Completion of Money Tracker Forms Department of Health guidelines require you as a service user to provide a record of how you have used Direct Payments. Money Tracker forms are a simple way for you to record this information. The Money Tracker system is based on a Direct Payments bank account statement providing a record of all your transactions. Money Tracker money in and money out forms support this information. Some banks refer to income as credits or money in, and payments as debits or money out. We will always refer to these terms as money in and money out. The Money Tracker forms mean you no longer need to declare your money in and money out in detail, but just provide a record of who you have made payments to, and why. The step-by-step guide below provides instructions of how to complete the Money Tracker forms. To enable you to complete the forms you will need the following: A copy of your most recent bank statement (you will need to ask your bank to provide monthly bank statements) Your cheque book(s) Paying-in book (if applicable) Debit card receipts Cash point withdrawal receipts (you should only use cash in exceptional circumstances when you cannot pay by cheque or debit card. A clear record should be kept for all cash payments) Supplier invoices or receipts A record of standing orders and direct debits you have set up Please note you need to keep all of the above records for at least six years plus the current year to comply with Revenue & Custom requirements. Devon County Council does not usually require you to send in evidence of what you have spent. However, our Finance & Audit staff may contact you if they wish to see receipts and invoices. Step-by-step guide to completing Money Tracker forms Step One - Identify the money in (credit) transactions on your bank statement Start by working your way down the money in column, and label these A,B, C etc, until you have labelled all of the transactions (see example 1). Step Two - Identify the money out (debit) transactions on your bank statement Start by working your way down the money out column, and label these 1,2,3 etc, until you have labelled all of the transactions (see example 1). 7

8 Step Three Complete the money in form Please (see record example your 3). name, the bank statement number you are providing information about and the period the bank statement covers. Find the first money in transaction on your bank statement (labelled as A) and record the details of this transaction on line A of the money in form (see example 3). Record whether the money in is a Direct Payment, payment from the Independent Living Fund or your client contribution, and tick the appropriate box. For other sources of money in, tick other and provide a description. Do this for all of the money in transactions on the bank statement. Make sure that the money in corresponds with the payment advice slips that Devon County Council send you. Check that you have received money that you are owed from the Independent Living Fund and that you have made your own client contribution to the account. Whoever completes the payment form should write their name and the date on the form (see example 3). Step Four Complete the money out form Please record your name, the bank statement number you are providing information about and the period the bank statement covers. Find the first money out transaction on your bank statement (labelled as 1) and record the details of this transaction on line 1 of the payment form (see example 2). Firstly, record the name of the person or company you paid. If you paid by cheque you will need to check your cheque book stub, or if you paid by debit card, check your debit card receipt. If you paid a personal assistant their wages, record it as Wages PA. Secondly, record the description of the goods or services you received. It is a good idea to note this information on your cheque book stub or debit card receipt. If you paid by cash, use the third column to record the amount, and the service or goods that you received (see example 1). Do this for all of the money out transactions on the bank statement. You should now record any large payments you have made during the period that do not appear on the bank statement. This may include cheques written by you that have not yet been cashed. You only need to record payments that amount to more than four weeks of your Direct Payments. Whoever completes the money out form should write their name and the date on the form (see example 2). Step Five Send the forms to Devon County Council Copies of the following should be sent to the agreed department at Devon County Council: The relevant bank statement The money in form The money out form 8

9 11. How your financial records will be checked We need to be able to check your care payment records to ensure that the payments you are making relate to the purchase of your care needs and are reasonable. If we note that you are accruing funds over and above your agreed ceiling (including the contingency payment but excluding your weekly contribution) then we may contact you to see if your care needs have changed. You may be asked to repay money you have not needed to spend. In the same way, if the amount in your account is significantly less then we would expect then we may also contact you to establish if there has been a change in your care needs. Note:- We usually allow 7 x your normal weekly payment to be left in your bank account. For example if your weekly payment is 100 then we will allow 700 to remain in your bank account. 12. What happens if an overpayment is made? If we have to reduce your payment and back date it may be that you are required to repay an amount to Devon County Council. If this is the case we will write to you to explain what has happened and agree with you as to how the amount may be repaid i.e. instalments. If we do not hear from you within two weeks of the date of the letter we will send you an invoice for the full amount. 13. What to do if things go wrong If criminal activities are involved (theft or fraud, for example) then you should tell the police immediately. If the problem directly affects your ability to pay for your immediate care needs then you must contact Social services or your independent living advisor at once even if the situation does not cause you an immediate problem. Failure to do so could put your right to purchase your own care through direct payments at risk. 14. Direct payments Information you should receive from Devon Social Services Use this list to check that you have all the information that you need from us: Name of your Care Manager or Independent Living Advisor:..... Office Address: Tel.:... 9

10 A copy of Devon s direct payments leaflet (Ref 8) in the format that you prefer. It is available in Braille, audio tape and large print, and in the eight community languages of Devon A copy of Direct payments in Devon Information and Guidance ; A copy of Devon Social Services leaflet Making a Comment, Compliment or Complaint (Ref 3). The Data Protection Act 1998 and the information we may hold about you; Seeing Your Records (Ref4) A completed copy of the following forms: o Direct payments bank/building society details; o Direct payment agreement. A list of the dates that direct payments will be paid into your direct payment account and dates when you must return your Money tracker forms and bank statements. A copy of the calculation of your four-weekly payment with any start-up and contingency payments; Notification of your contribution to the cost of your care package; Blank Money Tracker forms; A timesheet. Review date:

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