Our local authority is now carrying out financial assessments on individuals who have been in receipt of a direct payment for a number of years.
They have not been required to date to make a contribution from their DLA or Income support. Is this acceptable?

Tue 08-Sep-09 09:23 AM by shawn

(Edited to shorten link)

The guidelines for how the LAs can assess income and charge is in the Fairer Charging guidance

As Shawn says the Fairer Charging guidance lays down, broadly, what LAs can do in terms of charging. The detailed policy will be set by each individual LA and varies greatly, particularly around Disability Related Expenditure and also the treatment of couples incomes.

In general IS will not be an issue as they must be left with income of at least 125% of their IS needs amount. DLA and AA can be used though as they are benefits that are intended to help with the costs of disability.

Things may well be different if the LA is introducing RAS and individual budgets etc.