Indirect Payments

The 2009 Direct Payments Guidance describes practice for making accessible direct payments for people who lack the capacity to consent to them by introducing a suitable person to receive and manage the payments. Commonly considered to confer increased choice and control to people with social care needs, we know less about how this legislation is working in practice for people with learning disabilities (PWL) and people with dementia (PWD) lacking capacity.

This study used individual semi-structured interviews and observational methods to explore separately with practitioners, suitable people, and PWLD and PWD in six English LAs their experiences of indirect payments. Two researchers carried out a thematic analysis on these interview data.