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Direct Payments and Personal Health Budget (PHB) Support Service

What are Personal Budgets and Direct Payments?

If you have health or social care needs you may get money from either your local council, or from the NHS or in some cases, both.

When it comes from your local Council this is called a Personal Budget .

When it comes from the NHS it is known as Personal Health Budget.

In both cases it is the amount of money you will get to meet your care needs, based on an assessment.

A Direct Payment is one way you can get the money from your Personal Budget or Personal Health Budget.

Personal Budgets from your Local Council

If you have a Personal Budget from the council you will usually get this as Direct Payment.

Getting a Direct Payment gives you more choice and control in how your care is delivered, who helps you with your care, and when.

You can ask the Council to:

Pay the Direct Payment to you using a prepayment card (Cheshire West and Chester Council) or a supported bank account (Bolton Council).
Pay the Direct Payment to a separate bank account in your own name, or to a person that you have asked to help you manage the payments.

Personal Health Budgets from the NHS

If you have a Personal Health Budget (PHB) there are different options for how to manage this.

You can ask the NHS to:

Manage your Personal Health Budget for you. This is known as a notional budget and can only be used if you use an agency to do this for you.
Pay the money to an organisation that will manage the budget for you . This is known as a Third Party Budget.
Pay the money to you or someone you have chosen to help you manage the payments, or via a supported bank account. This is known as a Direct Payment.

How we can help

Our friendly and experienced team can support you to understand and manage everything to do with your Direct Payment or Personal Health Budget.

To find out more, click the area you live in on the right of this page.

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Bolton

Cheshire

Lancashire

Warrington

Wirral

Manchester Central

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We’ll support you to manage and direct your own health or social care at home.

We can help you with:

Advice and information on all aspects of directing your own care
Creating support plan.
Choosing how to manage your budget.
Recruiting and employing your own Personal Assistants or arranging care via a care agency
Employing your staff legally and being a good employer
DBS checks on your Personal Assistant(s).
Working out how to spend your Personal Budget or Personal Health Budget to make sure your needs are met.
Suggesting other services you might find helpful.

Our service is for you if you:

Manage your own care in Cheshire West and Chester or are eligible but pay for this yourself (self-funded).
Have a Personal Health Budget in Warrington, the Wirral or Manchester Central.
Manage your own care in Lancashire or are eligible but pay for this yourself (self-funded).

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