Adult Social Care Financial Policies

Much of what we as a council do is set out in national law and regulation, but in some areas of our services, the law gives us power and discretion over what we will do. We must have a policy setting out how we apply our discretion in these cases. 

There are three areas concerned with financial matters in Adult Social Care where we have made decisions on what our policies will be where we have a choice.

Paying for care

The first of these three areas is financial contributions, which anyone receiving a service from us – whether residential and nursing care, or non-residential care at home or in the community – may be assessed to pay. We have discretion whether we charge those who can afford it a contribution to the cost of their adult social care services, and like most councils, have chosen to charge.

Our Contributions Policy sets out the decisions we have made on these charges.

We also provide more general information on our paying for care at home and paying for residential care webpages.

Direct Payments

The second of these three areas is direct payment, which offer people the option of managing the care and support they receive by receiving funding from us to do so, rather than us arranging services for them. We have discretion over some parts of our direct payment scheme, and our Direct Payments Policy sets out the decisions we have made on how this service operates.

We also provide more general information on our dedicated direct payments webpages.

Deferred Payment Agreements

The third of these three areas is deferred payment agreements, which offer people in permanent residential or nursing care homes the option of arranging for us to cover their care costs if they are unable or unwilling to sell their former home. We effectively loan them money to cover the cost of their care. This is for anyone in Sandwell who receives residential adult social care services and who is a “self-funder”, i.e. is liable to pay the full cost of their care because their main or only home has a value above the Government’s capital limit, but whose other capital excluding the home (savings and other assets etc.) are lower than that capital limit.

We have discretion over some parts of our deferred payment scheme, and our Deferred Payment Agreements Policy sets out the decisions we have made on how this service operates.

We also provide more general information on our dedicated Deferred Payment Agreements webpage.

General Adult Social Care enquiries

For general enquiries on these or any other adult social care services, please contact us at Sandwell Enquiry.