Your Personal Budget is an amount of money which is available to spend on your agreed support needs, to help you live an independent and fulfilling life.
Age UK has a good explanation of a Personal Budget.
With a Personal Budget:
- you have control over how you spend your money on your support
- you have the choice to decide and buy support that best meets your needs
- you have as much or as little help as you need to set up your personal budget or arrange support
Different ways of having a Personal Budget
There are different ways you can have your Personal Budget. You can:
- manage your Personal Budget as a Direct Payment
- manage part of your Personal Budget as a Direct Payment and ask us (Adult Social Care at Bedford Borough Council) to manage the rest as you specify
- ask us (Adult Social Care at Bedford Borough Council) to manage your whole Personal Budget
What a Personal Budget can be used for
Everyone is different and how you choose to meet your outcomes will be individual to you. However, the support, services or activities that you choose to spend your Personal Budget on must:
- meet the social care outcomes agreed in your support plan
- be affordable and sustainable
- be legal and a proper use of social care funding
What a Personal Budget cannot be used for
- any form of gambling
- to purchase food and drink (including alcohol)
- funding support by a family member or partner who resides in the same home (unless exceptional circumstances)
- paying utility or household bills or debts
- health services and NHS treatment, prescriptions, non prescription medication or drugs, purchasing nursing care or care which is provided by a registered nurse
The short video below describes the ways your care can be arranged:
