Charges for community-based services
Introduction to personal budgets
This section provides information on how we calculate your contribution toward your community-based care package; the annual cost of these services is called your personal budget.
It explains how we carry out our financial assessments but does not cover all circumstances so if you have any queries, or would like more specific advice on any point, please contact the Assessment, Benefits & Charges Team directly on 020 8871 6218 or seek independent advice.
Excluding Occupational Therapy (OT) equipment and reablement services, all other services included in a personal budget are chargeable. For example:
- home care
- day care
- transport
- outreach
- one-to-one
- direct payments
- supporting people
- care and support
- supported living
- extra care housing
- Shared Lives
- telecare
- respite care at home
- shopping services
- laundry services
- night sitting.
Who pays for Personal Budget Services?
If you are assessed as needing community-based social care services the council is obliged to carry out a financial assessment to see how much you should contribute towards the estimated annual costs of these services (i.e your personal budget). The amount that you will be charged is based on your ability to pay and the actual cost of the services you get each week. It is calculated according to legislation and local policy.
To establish how much your contribution should be, you are required to complete a confidential financial assessment form and provide us with full details of your income, such as any pensions, benefits, maintenance or other payments you receive. We will also ask you for details of your capital, that is, any savings, stocks, shares, investments or other assets. This also includes any property that you own. In our calculation we will ignore the value of the home you live in.
Any personal information you provide will be treated in confidence, in accordance with the Data Protection Act 1998.
