Direct Payments for home care in Bradford

You can use Direct Payments for home care in Bradford. If the council has given you a Direct Payment, you have a say in who provides your care. If you get a Direct Payment, you may be able to use it to pay a CQC-registered agency such as ours, by agreement with the council. Here's how it works.

This guide is for adults with a council budget, families who manage a Direct Payment for a relative, and social workers looking for a provider.

Direct Payments, Personal Budgets and other funding in plain English

• Local authority Personal Budget: the total amount your council works out is needed to meet the needs in your care and support plan. The council can manage it, or you can take some or all of it as a Direct Payment.
• Direct Payment: money from the council, paid to you (or someone who helps you manage it) so you can arrange your own support. It must be used to meet the needs in your agreed plan.
• NHS Personal Health Budget: the NHS version of a personal budget, for people with ongoing healthcare needs who are assessed as eligible.
• NHS Continuing Healthcare (CHC): fully NHS-funded care for people whose main need is a health need, decided by the NHS after an assessment.
• Self-funding: you arrange and pay for your own care privately.

The amount in each case is decided by the council or the NHS after an assessment, not by the care provider.

Using your Direct Payment with an agency

• Talk to the council's Direct Payments team first: the agency and the plan need to be agreed with them. If you don't have a social worker, the council lists the Independence Advice Hub on 01274 435400.
• Using an agency means you don't employ a personal assistant yourself, so you don't take on payroll.
• You agree the visit times and tasks in your care plan.
• Keep invoices and records as the council asks.

You can read more on Bradford Council's Direct Payments page and GOV.UK.

What to ask an agency before you choose

• Are you registered with the CQC? (You can check on the CQC website.)
• Who does the assessment?
• What's the hourly rate, and does it change at evenings or weekends?
• Are there travel or call-out charges?
• How do you keep the same care workers?
• Who do I call outside office hours?

Using Direct Payments for home care in Bradford with us

Our Registered Manager visits you at home for a free, no-obligation assessment. We agree your care plan and the cost in writing, and the council agrees the arrangement. Home care starts from £25 an hour, with no travel or call-out charges. Rates may differ at evenings, weekends and bank holidays.

Our office is open Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm, and our on-call line covers outside those hours for people already receiving our care. We provide personal care at home for adults aged 18 and over, including younger adults with a physical disability, across Shipley, Saltaire, Baildon, Bingley, Keighley, Ilkley, Otley and Wharfedale, and the Bradford district. See home care visits, respite care at home and live-in care.

Attendance Allowance and other help

Attendance Allowance is paid to the person who needs care and they decide how to spend it. See Attendance Allowance help in Bradford and the cost of home care in Bradford.