Divine HomeCare accepts a range of payment options to cover the cost of your home care and support. The main ones include Direct Payments, Self-Funding and Social Services.
If you are considering Direct Payment or Social Service options and have yet to be assessed, then the first step is for you to contact your local authority directly and arrange a care assessment.
Once complete and your funding has been confirmed, you can request to use Divine HomeCare to provide your care. Alternatively, you can contact us directly if choosing the Direct Payments option.
Please feel free to contact us to discuss your care requirements and possible funding options for your home care service.
Direct Payments
Direct payments are when your local council assesses your needs and determines that you need care and support in your home and allows you to arrange and pay for your own care. This option allows the person requiring care to choose their own care provider and pay directly from the payments you will receive into your bank account from your local council. Direct payments option therefore gives you more control and choice. However, there are financial criteria that you need to meet in order for the council to cover the full cost of your care or contribution towards it.
Self-Funding
Self-funding is when you or a relative covers the cost of your care from your or their own finances. If you are earning above a certain amount or have savings in your bank, you may not qualify for local authority funding and therefore need to cover the cost of your own home care. Similar to Direct Payments, you get to choose your care provider and with this option you have total control over how much you pay, who you use and for how long.
Social Services
The same as Direct Payments, your local council’s social services department will need to assess your care needs and requirements and assuming you meet their criteria, they can cover up to the whole cost of your care, only with this option they will pay the care provider directly.
When the council assesses your care needs, they will also assess your financial situation to see if you can afford to contribute towards the cost of your care. The amount that social service departments pay depends on your local council, but all councils have a duty to meet your care needs under the national eligibility criteria and the assessment will determine how much contribution you are entitled too.
Ways to pay
Electronic Transfers
Should you wish to make payment by electronic transfer/internet banking, please contact us.
Cheque
Should you wish to pay by cheque please make all cheques payable to Divine HomeCare. We ask that cheques are posted to the office, rather than handed to a carer.
Standing order
Payment by standing order is where we will take a specified amount from your nominated account every four weeks. This will not necessarily cover your invoices in full, as this method of payment will not account for any variations in your care package, for example bank holidays or increased visits. In this case you may receive statements from the finance team regarding any outstanding balance that may be on your account.
Invoicing
Invoicing is undertaken every four weeks. Our usual system is to send invoices by post. However, if you would rather receive your invoices by email, please contact us.
