Direct payments to beneficiary
14.—(1) Where P has approved the support plan, the responsible authority must offer P the opportunity, with P’s consent, to receive payments (“direct payments”) in respect of P securing the provision of services that secure one or more of the outcomes referred to in regulation 10(b), but this is subject to paragraphs (2) and (3).
(2) Paragraph (1) does not apply if it appears to the responsible authority that—
(a)P is incapable of managing a direct payment, either alone or with such assistance as may be available to P,
(b)P’s need for the qualifying service cannot be met by making a direct payment,
(c)the making of direct payments would in the circumstances place an unreasonable financial burden on the authority,
(d)the making of direct payments would have an adverse effect on the provision of qualifying services to or for the benefit of other persons, or
(e)for any other reason relating to the disabled person or to the qualifying service the making of direct payments is not reasonably practicable in all the circumstances.
(3) Paragraph (1) does not apply if P is a person excluded by Schedule 1.
(4) If direct payments are to be made to P—
(a)P’s support plan must set out the level of such payments and include a statement by P confirming that P is aware of the obligation to repay any payment in the circumstances set out in regulation 18(1)(a) to (c), and
(b)P, or someone on P’s behalf, must sign the support plan as amended in accordance with sub-paragraph (a).
(5) A direct payment under this regulation is to be subject to the condition that the service in respect of which it is made must not be secured from a person mentioned in paragraph (6) unless the responsible authority is satisfied that securing the service from such a person is necessary to meet satisfactorily P’s need for that service.
(6) The persons referred to in paragraph (5) are—
(a)P’s spouse or civil partner;
(b)a person who lives with P as if they were P’s spouse or civil partner;
(c)a person living in the same household as P who is P’s—
(i)parent or parent-in-law,
(ii)son or daughter,
(iii)son-in-law or daughter-in-law,
(iv)stepson or stepdaughter,
(v)brother or sister,
(vi)uncle or aunt, or
(vii)grandparent;
(d)the spouse or civil partner of any person mentioned in sub-paragraph (c) who lives in the same household as P; and
(e)a person who lives with any person specified in sub-paragraph (c) as if they were that person’s spouse or civil partner.
(7) The responsible authority may make a direct payment subject to such other conditions as it thinks fit.
(8) The conditions referred to in paragraph (7) may, in particular, require that P—
(a)must not secure the service from a particular person; and
(b)must provide such information to the responsible authority as the authority considers necessary in connection with the direct payment.