Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of introducing a personal care allowance for people who are assessed as needing personal care.

Local authorities are required to undertake a needs assessment for any individual who requests it, which will consider all of the adult’s care and support needs. As part of this process, the local authority will provide the person with a personal budget, which is an amount sufficient to cover the cost of the local authority meeting their eligible needs.

Direct payments are one of the ways adults receiving local authority support with their social care costs can choose to receive their personal budget. Direct payments provide people with greater independence, choice, and control by enabling them or their nominated representative or representatives to commission their own care in order to meet their eligible personal care and support needs.