Who Pays? · sources

Chapter 7: Managing the Money Yourself

6 sources. Checked September 2026.

Every claim in this chapter is traced to the source behind it. Below is each one, numbered as it appears in the book, with a link that opens the original.

Care Act 2014, ss.31–33. Sections 31 and 32 set out a council's duty to make a direct payment, to an adult with capacity or to an authorised person acting for one without capacity, where set conditions are met. Section 33 requires the detail to be set out in regulations.
www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2014/23/section/31 · www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2014/23/section/32 · www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2014/23/section/33
The Care and Support (Direct Payments) Regulations 2014 (SI 2014/2871), regulation 3, generally bars payment to a partner or a close relative living in the same household — a parent, child, sibling, grandparent, or their spouse or partner — for providing the care itself, unless the council considers this necessary, or the payment is for administrative help running the arrangement rather than the care itself. Regulation 6 caps short-term care home stays funded this way at 4 consecutive weeks in a year, except at a small number of councils named in that regulation's own schedule.
www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2014/2871/regulation/3 · www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2014/2871/regulation/6
The Care and Support (Direct Payments) Regulations 2014 (SI 2014/2871), regulation 4, lets a council attach conditions to a direct payment, including a requirement for information about how it has been used — but that information cannot be demanded more often or in more detail than is reasonably required, nor in a format that is not reasonably practicable to provide. Exactly what a council asks to see can vary within this framework. Ask your parent's council for its own written policy before the direct payment starts.
www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2014/2871/regulation/4
The Care and Support (Direct Payments) Regulations 2014 (SI 2014/2871), regulation 7, requires a council to review a direct payment within its first 6 months, and at least once every 12 months after that, and sooner if there is a concern about how it is being used. Care Act 2014, s.33(5), gives the council the power to end a direct payment and require repayment of money not spent in line with the care and support plan. Ask your parent's council, in writing, what its review timetable and repayment policy are.
www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2014/2871/regulation/7 · www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2014/23/section/33
A council-arranged personal budget can usually be spent in one of three ways: a managed account the council administers directly, an account managed by a third-party provider on your parent's behalf, or a direct payment paid to your parent or their representative. Age UK's Factsheet 24, "Personal budgets and direct payments in social care" (November 2025), sets out how these options typically work — Age UK's next scheduled update is November 2026. What is offered varies between individual councils, so ask your parent's council directly what it provides locally.
www.ageuk.org.uk/information-advice/care/paying-for-care/financial-assessment/personal-budgets-and-direct-payments
Care and Support (Charging and Assessment of Resources) Regulations 2014 (SI 2014/2672), Schedule 1, paragraph 5: a direct payment received under sections 31 to 33 of the Care Act 2014 is disregarded as income in your parent's financial assessment. How money left unspent for a long period is treated is not fully settled in published guidance. Ask your parent's council, or an independent benefits adviser, rather than assuming either way.
www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2014/2672/schedule/1/paragraph/5

Sources for the other chapters are listed at ageingparent.co.uk/sources/who-pays. Free guides on the topics in this book are at ageingparent.co.uk.