Direct Payments Q&A: Get advice about managing your child’s social care on 10 March

2 mins read

Monday 7 March 2022

Tags: social care, facebook q&a

Do you have any questions about using direct payments to manage your child’s social care services in England? Ask our advisers during a special Facebook Q&A on 10 March!

Contact’s helpline team will be on hand between 10am—12pm to help families with any questions or concerns about how to access direct payments and what they can be used for.

To take part, make sure you’re a member of our private Facebook community for parent carers by requesting to join the group and answering the three membership questions. Once you’re added as a member, you can confirm your attendance on the Q&A event page in order to receive a notification reminder before it starts.

The Q&A will be in a written post format (not a livestream), so you can drop by at any time between 10am and 12pm to take part. A special Q&A post will be published in our Facebook group at 10am on 10 March. Take a look at our previous Q&A sessions for a better idea of how they work.

During the Q&A, you can ask our team about:

  • Reasons for choosing a direct payment (and the ways it can be used)
  • How to access direct payments
  • Pros and cons of managing your child’s services yourself
  • Using direct payments for some services and not others
  • Your rights when it comes to direct payments

What are direct payments?

If the local authority decides that your child is eligible for services and support after carrying out a an assessment of their needs, it’ll give you a personal budget to meet these needs. A personal budget is an amount of money to spend based on how much it will cost in your local area to arrange the care and support your child needs.

You can then choose to receive the payments to buy and organise these services yourself. This money is paid to you in the form of direct payments.

Listen to our latest podcast to learn more about direct payment rules and advantages from Contact’s welfare rights expert Derek. The episode covers the rules in England, but similar rules apply in other UK nations.