The Care Act Guidance states: “Where disability-related benefits are taken into account, the local authority should make an assessment and allow the person to keep enough benefit to pay for necessary disability-related expenditure to meet any needs which are not being met by the local authority”
The Statutory Regulations refer as follows:
Schedule 1 Regulation 15
Sums to be disregarded in the calculation of income
4.
(1) Where a local authority takes into account in the calculation of income any disability benefits the adult receives, any disability-related expenditure incurred by the adult.
(2) In this paragraph— “disability benefits” means any attendance allowance (other than severe disablement occupational allowance), disability living allowance or personal independence payment;
“disability-related expenditure” includes payment for any community alarm system, costs of any privately arranged care services required including respite care, and the costs of any specialist items needed to meet the adult’s disability.
Care Act Guidance: Disability-related expenditure
40) In assessing disability-related expenditure, local authorities should include the following. However, it should also be noted that this list is not intended to be exhaustive and any reasonable additional costs directly related to a person’s disability should be included:
- payment for any community alarm system
- costs of any privately arranged care services required, including respite care
- costs of any specialist items needed to meet the person’s disability needs, for example:
- day or night care which is not being arranged by the local authority
- specialist washing powders or laundry
- additional costs of special dietary needs due to illness or disability (the person may be asked for permission to approach their GP in cases of doubt)
- special clothing or footwear, for example, where this needs to be specially made; or additional wear and tear to clothing and footwear caused by disability
- additional costs of bedding, for example, because of incontinence
- any heating costs, or metered costs of water, above the average levels for the area and housing type
- occasioned by age, medical condition or disability
- reasonable costs of basic garden maintenance, cleaning, or domestic help, if necessitated by the individual’s disability and not met by social services
- purchase, maintenance, and repair of disability-related equipment, including equipment or transport needed to enter or remain in work; this may include IT costs, where necessitated by the disability; reasonable hire costs of equipment may be included, if due to waiting for supply of equipment from the local council
- personal assistance costs, including any household or other necessary costs arising for the person
- internet access for example for blind and partially sighted people
- other transport costs necessitated by illness or disability, including costs of transport to day centres, over and above the mobility component of DLA or PIP, if in payment and available for these costs. In some cases, it may be reasonable for a council not to take account of claimed transport costs – if, for example, a suitable, cheaper form of transport, for example, council-provided transport to day centres is available, but has not been used
- in other cases, it may be reasonable for a council not to allow for items where a reasonable alternative is available at lesser cost. For example, a council might adopt a policy not to allow for the private purchase cost of continence pads, where these are available from the NHS
Brighton & Hove City Council Policy
The maximum DRE allowance will be limited to the total of disability benefits as required in the Care Act Regulations.
It should be noted that financial assessments include an allowance for everyday living costs which is higher than standard means tested benefit payments where no disability benefits are in payment. This general living costs allowance is known as the Minimum Income Guarantee (MIG) and is explained at 5.1 of the BHCC Charging Policy.
5.1 General Living Allowance – known as MIG (Minimum Income Guarantee)
Local authorities must ensure that a person’s income is not reduced below a specified level, after charges have been deducted. The minimum allowance rates are set out in the Care and Support (Charging and Assessment of Resources) Regulations and are reviewed by the Department of Health every April. This allowance is for people who live in their own home and is intended to cover general living expenses including food, utilities, fuel, phones, transport, leisure, insurances, pets and other miscellaneous living costs and includes any debts relating to these expenses.
In this policy the assessment for single people or people in a couple with no dependent children will have the following weekly allowance irrespective of the age of the service user.
The National Minimum MIG for a person of working age and in receipt of maximum disability benefits is £183.25 per week. However, BHCC policy provides for an enhanced MIG allowance for people of working age by an extra £45.75 per week to help with the additional costs of disability. This is:
- £229 per week for a single person
- £175 per week for one person in a couple
The DRE allowances shown below may be agreed but this is not an exhaustive list of disability-related costs. It is reasonable to expect that most people would not qualify for the full range of allowances. The council would not expect to allow costs that could be obtained free of charge or should otherwise be met by other agencies, such as the NHS. This includes therapies, such as physiotherapy, and applies to chiropody and continence pads.
Some allowances have maximum amounts but these can be reconsidered where there is evidence of actual expenditure, such as receipts and bank statements. These may be requested at the Council’s discretion to verify that items claimed have actually been purchased, particularly for unusual items or heavy expenditure. Eligible allowances should be based on actual past expenditure. Spending not yet incurred is not allowed as it is not practicable for assessments to take account of expenditure people might incur if they had more income. Where receipts have not been kept, the council may request they are kept for future expenditure allowances.
To qualify for the additional allowance the expenditure claimed must be directly related to the person’s disability or medical condition and must be over and above the amount a non-disabled person might incur in everyday general living costs.
For example, some people may have a disability which means they are not able to manage the essential cleaning tasks in their home. Where they live alone or nobody else in the household is able to do this, they may pay someone else to do this for them. BHCC has a guideline maximum allowance of £14 per week which is based on an hour per week, but this may be subject to proof of payment and essential cleaning needs and can be higher in exceptional circumstances.
Where a person is paying someone for their personal care service we will check the expenditure and the care plan to see whether this is considered eligible and necessary and is funded privately instead of needing council funding. An allowance will be given where eligible.
It may be possible to provide a small allowance for any additional costs of a specific diet as prescribed by a GP due to illness or disability. We have a maximum allowance of £6 per week. This is because different diets are not likely to cost more than the average cost of a diet which is already included in the MIG allowance of £229 per week. Allowances for other extra costs must be “reasonable” and as a result of disability / medical issues rather than choice.
An allowance may be given for essential garden maintenance, for example, grass cutting in the growing months once per month – we have a guideline maximum weekly allowance of £14 which is based upon an average of £60 per month. This is subject to proof of expenditure and applies where people have a disability such that they are not able to manage essential garden maintenance themselves and where they live alone or nobody else in the household is able to do this.
An additional allowance may be given for transport costs necessitated by illness or disability.
However, this may depend upon whether there is a suitable, cheaper form of transport available and whether the cost is over and above any Mobility benefits received with DLA or PIP. We have a guideline maximum allowance of £14 per week which is considered to be an amount extra to average general transport costs which are already included in the General Living Costs allowance of £229 per week. No allowance will apply where a person is able to use public transport and has a free bus pass or where free taxi vouchers are available.
Disability related expenditure allowances 2023 to 2024
An additional fuel allowance will apply where costs exceed average usage as set out in the table below. If you pay a set amount each month based on estimated usage we will need a copy of the statement you receive detailing your actual usage during the year. Amounts paid will be compared to the national average for a similar household size and type.
Any additional allowance will be the difference between the average cost and the amount you pay. The average cost is already included in the MIG allowance of £229 per week.
Average annual costs according to Ofgem
- 1 to 3 person household - £1,960
- 4 or more person household - £2,725
Winter Fuel payments are disregarded
The guideline maximum allowances shown below can be reviewed in individual circumstances.
See below, item, amount and evidence
Community Alarm System
- Amount:
- Actual cost to service user.
- Evidence:
Domestic support services
- Amount:
- Actual cost where this is not provided as part of the care plan and the amount is reasonable and necessary for hygiene purposes
- Evidence:
- evidence of employment and correct payments to an employee under UK law. Or paid invoices from care agency. Guideline maximum £14 per week
Private care services
- Amount:
- Actual cost where this is not provided as part of the care plan but the amount is reasonable and necessary for care and support
- Evidence:
- evidence of employment and correct payments to an employee under UK law. Or paid invoices from care agency
Laundry/ specialist powder
- Amount:
- £4.60 per week is considered to be reasonable as additional expenditure due to disability and more than 4 loads per week
- Evidence:
- Care plan or other source identifies continence problems.
Special dietary needs
- Amount:
- Discretionary as special dietary needs may not be more expensive than average weekly food costs.
- Evidence:
- medical evidence and details of special purchases. An allowance of up to £6 per week is considered reasonable.
Gardening
- Amount:
- Discretionary based on individual costs of garden maintenance
- Evidence:
- signed receipts for at least 4 weeks using a proper receipt book. An allowance of up to £14 per week is considered reasonable
Wheelchair
- Amount:
- £4.75 per week manual
- £11.55 per week powered
- Evidence:
- evidence of purchase. No allowance if equipment provided free of charge.
Powered bed
- Amount:
- Actual cost divided by 500 (10 yr life) up to a maximum of £5.25 per week
- Evidence:
Turning bed
- Amount:
- Actual cost divided by 500 up to a maximum of £9.20 per week
- Evidence:
Powered reclining chair
- Amount:
- Actual cost divided by 500 up to a maximum of £4.15 per week
- Evidence:
Stair-lift
- Amount:
- Actual cost divided by 500 up to a maximum of £7.40 per week
- Evidence:
- evidence of purchase without DFG input
Hoist
- Amount:
- Actual cost divided by 500 up to a maximum of £3.65 per week
- Evidence:
- evidence of purchase without DFG input
Prescription Charges
- Amount:
- Cost of an annual season ticket divided by 52 or actual cost of prescriptions whichever is less
- Evidence:
- where ineligible for free prescriptions
Transport
- Amount:
- Discretionary based on costs that are greater than those incurred by the general public.
- Evidence:
- evidence in Care Plan for transport needs where person cannot use public transport– maximum £14 per week.
Mobility Allowance cannot be included in the normal financial assessment as an income but the statutory guidance states that transport costs should be allowed where necessitated by illness or disability, over and above the mobility component of DLA if in payment. Therefore no further transport costs are allowed if Mobility Allowance covers them.
Summary of Publications
The following publications have been referred to in the compilation of this policy
- The Care Act 2014
- The Care Act 2014 Regulations Part 1
- The Care Act 2014 Care and Support Statutory Guidance
- Mental Health Act 1983