Direct Payments

“Without Direct Payments my life couldn’t be the way it is. That’s quite a big statement, but it’s allowing me to be independent, to do what I want to do, to go where I want to go, and to live as an independent adult away from my parents.

“It enables them to have their lives, and for us to have a family relationship rather than a carer and supported relationship. That’s the most crucial thing Direct Payments gives me.”

“I’ve been receiving direct payments again for just over a year now. The main benefit of the scheme is that I
can maintain an independent life, with some support. I am able to choose what time, day and who I have the
support from.

“I choose my own care staff for mornings and daytime support. This way I can choose for myself what times I want to do things, and with which of my carers, as each individual has their own benefits to add to my care. Also, employing my own carers allows me to get the cover I need when there are holidays or sickness.”

“We’ve had some great support from the team at the Council when we were setting up Direct Payments.

“Although we’ve never had to, we now have the confidence to change care providers as and when we need to. Direct Payments allows us to manage our own decisions about who we use.”

“I had a support plan drawn up by a social worker, looking at what I wanted to achieve and how Direct Payments would assist me. I found it hard to talk about the things I can’t do and Colin had to be there to help me.

“Once I was all set up all I had to do was interview and make a decision about who I would like to support me. It was great."

“I decide which care agency to choose and can use more than one agency if needed. Direct Payments give us the freedom of choice to live independent lives.”

If you have had a social care assessment which has shown you are eligible for support with your care needs, you could choose to manage this yourself with a Direct Payment.

A Direct Payment means you will receive an agreed amount of money to arrange the support that you need instead of the council arranging this for you.

This gives you far more choice and control over the way you arrange your day-to-day help.

Direct Payments offer you more choice and control over how your support is provided and who provides it. You can make changes to your care and support to suit you. You may decide to receive support through a care agency or to employ your own Personal Assistant (PA) with the support of a payroll provider.

For information about employing a PA please visit Hampshire PA Finder.

Direct Payments can be used to pay for anything agreed in your support plan.

 This could include:

• Support from a care agency of your choice
• Employing a Personal Assistant (PA) to help with personal care
• Support with daily living activities
• Short-term breaks away from home or respite care

You cannot use the money to buy anything other than products or services agreed in your support plan.

Specifically, you cannot spend your Direct Payment on:

• Long term residential care
• Nursing care or medicines
• Alcohol, tobacco products, drugs, or gambling
• Equipment that would otherwise be provided by the NHS
• As a substitute for a Disabled Facilities Grant
• To benefit anyone other than the person with assessed eligible needs
• Payment to a spouse, civil partner, or other specified family member living in the same household, unless agreed by Southampton City Council as necessary

Before receiving Direct Payments, you will need to read and sign the Direct Payments Agreement. The Agreement sets out the terms and conditions of Direct Payments.  

Your Direct Payment will be managed by a support provider called People Places Lives (PPL). They will set up a ‘Virtual Wallet’ for you which is a secure, online account. Southampton City Council will pay your Direct Payment into this account every four weeks along with any personal contributions that you may have been assessed as needing to make.   

People can manage their own care and support arrangements using Virtual Wallet but if you need extra support, you can nominate a close friend or relative to do this on your behalf. You can also phone/email the Virtual Wallet Support team who will then access your Virtual Wallet to resolve queries and make payments.

Virtual Wallet puts the entire management of your Direct Payment in your hands. It gives you a huge choice of how to spend your money, allows you to book appointments and manage your support, and automatically pays your providers.

Find out more about the Virtual Wallet.

Funds in your Virtual Wallet will be returned to Southampton City Council in the first instance. If you have made a financial contribution into the account, the council will return it to you.

For general enquiries about Direct Payments, please contact Adult Social Care.

For enquires relating to the financial assessment which determines how much you may need to contribute towards your care, please contact the Financial Assessment and Benefits Team:

• Email: fab.officers@southampton.gov.uk
• Phone: 023 8083 3003
• Online: complete the online financial assessment enquiry form

Virtual Wallet is managed by a provider called People Place Lives (PPL). It is an online account, accessed through the internet, which your Direct Payment is paid into. Funds from the council are credited to your Virtual Wallet account every four weeks (along with any client contributions or top-up).

Virtual Wallet is safe and secure, easy to use, removes a lot of administration and paperwork, and the Virtual Wallet Support team are on hand to help whenever needed.

Your care and support are managed via Virtual Wallet, which then makes payments to your personal assistants and providers. You tell it what you are spending your Direct Payment on, and the system will do the rest, automatically paying your providers.  

Your account can be managed by you or your nominated representative (this could be a friend or family member). The Virtual Wallet Support team also offer a supported account option for people who would like additional help and support.

Virtual Wallet is a secure, web-based system that holds a full record of all your bookings, invoices and payments, and is available to you 24/7 through your Virtual Wallet Account.

Funding is added to your Virtual Wallet account by Southampton City Council (SCC). You can also add funds to your Virtual Wallet account yourself if you are required to make a personal contribution. You can find further information at My Virtual Wallet.

The Virtual Wallet Support team will work with you and SCC to ensure that all your care arrangements are 'set-up' in Virtual Wallet, and you are able to view all the support you have. You can also grant access to a trusted friend or family member, meaning they can log-in and see the support you have arranged and make any changes on your behalf.

If you are not comfortable with technology or would prefer an additional level of support the Virtual Wallet Support team can provide a supported Virtual Wallet account. This means you can instruct the Support team via phone or e-mail, and they will access your Virtual Wallet and do things on your behalf.

Once confirmation is received that your care has been delivered, all payments are managed through Virtual Wallet on your behalf and payment will usually reach the care provider within five days.

Visit the resources page to learn more about how Virtual Wallet could support you.

Your Social Care Practitioner will register you for a Virtual Wallet Account. 

If you employ one or more personal assistant(s) or use a care provider, you will be given information to pass on to them. You will also need to provide their contact details to the Virtual Wallet Support team who will register them with Virtual Wallet to ensure they get paid. 

You can find guidance on YouTube which covers the following topics:

• What is a Direct Payment? What is Virtual Wallet?
• Who can manage my Virtual Wallet?
• Can family and friends help manage my Virtual Wallet?
• What is a Supported Account?
• How does Virtual Wallet manage payroll?
• Introduction to Virtual Wallet for providers
• Introduction to Virtual Wallet for personal assistants
• The Virtual Wallet set-up process (for personal assistants and providers)

These videos can all be found at PPL: People Places Lives on YouTube.

When setting up a personal assistant on Virtual Wallet, you will also need to provide details of your payroll provider so that they can be set up in Virtual Wallet. Payroll providers ensure that you are making the correct payments to your Personal Assistant. 

You can check your balance and transactions by logging into your Virtual Wallet account or by contacting the Virtual Wallet Support team:

• Webchat: Webchat with Virtual Wallet
• Email: info@myvirtualwallet.co.uk
• Telephone: 0300 373 9259 for supported accounts, 0330 058 2690 for self-serve accounts

Find out more about the Virtual Wallet.

If you require care, you will have discussed with your Social Care Practitioner how you would like to receive this – either by directly employing your own personal assistant(s) or through a care provider/agency.

If you choose to directly employ a personal assistant, you will need to follow the council’s process for finding an appropriate individual. You might find Hampshire PA Finder useful to help identify and recruit a suitable person.

Once you have the details of the individual(s) from whom you wish to receive your care, you will need to provide their contact details, including name, email address and contact number, to the Virtual Wallet support team. The personal assistant can then be registered on Virtual Wallet and linked to your account. You will also be given information to pass on to your Personal Assistant about Virtual Wallet.

Registering your Personal Assistant(s) on Virtual Wallet will enable their timesheets to be processed and for them to be paid using your chosen payroll provider.

When setting up a personal assistant on Virtual Wallet, you will also need to provide details of your payroll provider so that they can be set up in Virtual Wallet. Payroll providers ensure that you are making the correct payments to your Personal Assistant.

Listed below are some of the services typically offered by a payroll provider

• HMRC Employer Registration
• Absence payments, including sickness, maternity, and paternity
• Electronic payslips
• Timesheet processing
• Net payment to employee and HMRC
• Setting up new starters and processing leavers
• Pension payments
• Processing tax codes and student loans
• Year-end process

Please speak to your Social Care Practitioner for further information about finding a payroll provider.

Each month your Personal Assistant(s) will need to submit their timesheets to the payroll provider who will process the timesheets and instruct Virtual Wallet to pay them. Full instructions will be given to you and your Personal Assistants as part of the onboarding process.

If you choose to receive your care from an agency, your Social Care Practitioner will have spoken to you about the choice of agencies available. A number of agencies are already registered on Virtual Wallet and you can use the search facility to review these agencies.

If you wish to use agencies that are not yet registered on Virtual Wallet, then the Virtual Wallet Support team will need to add their details and create their Virtual Wallet account.

Most services will need to be discussed with the agency before they can confirm a price. You can do this by phoning or emailing them. 

Once you have agreed your care needs, the agency will create a care schedule to confirm the hours of care to be provided, you will review the proposed care schedule and book the service if it meets your needs. The Virtual Wallet Support team will be available to help you set this up in Virtual Wallet.

To help you manage your budget, the value of any service bookings are deducted from your account balance which is displayed in the Account Summary section. This gives you the current balance of your account and the amount available to spend once pending transactions have been accounted for.

At any time, you can amend your appointments if your needs change, subject to the providers’ terms and conditions. Remember that you must cancel any appointments if you are no longer using the services of your agencies.