Individual Budgets: A new way of getting the support you need

Individual Budgets are a new way of providing assistance to people who are eligible to be funded by the London Borough of Bexley for Adult Social Care Services. The new system allows you to either buy services directly yourself, through the Local Authority or a combination of the two.

With Individual Budgets, you have more control over the way your care is organised. You can select the support you want from a wider choice of organisations and individuals and you can have more say over exactly what they do and when they do it.

There will be many of people who can help manage your Individual Budget, such as social worker, advocates, friends and family, and people from organisations who can help with support plans. These are sometimes called "support brokers."

Here are a few examples of some of the ways you could spend your Individual Budget:

• employ support workers or Personal Assistants - these can be friends or members of your family
• buy services from an agency or organisation
• pay expenses for unpaid helpers
• pay holiday or other expenses for someone assisting you in order to give your carer a break

There are some things you can not spend your budget on:

• funding for permanent care, for example, care in a hospital or nursing home or residential care home
• paying someone who may place you at risk of harm, abuse or lack of care
• paying for services that should be provided by the NHS