Start by getting a care needs assessment, which looks at your needs to decide if you qualify for support. If you do qualify, you'll usually have a separate financial assessment to see whether the council will pay towards your care.

If you qualify for support and the council will be paying towards your care, then you can usually ask for direct payments – you receive the money from the council and buy your own support services.

You can use your direct payments to organise your care in a way and at times that make sense to you as long as it meets your eligible needs. For example, you could:

• buy equipment and services
• employ someone to provide care for you at home
• employ someone to help you do things outside your home.

The council will ask for proof of how you are spending your direct payments.

Not everyone will want to arrange their own care services – you may not feel comfortable being an employer, for example. Or you may be happy for the council to arrange care services for you, particularly if you don’t have strong preferences about who provides your support.

If you’re interested in direct payments but think it might be too much to manage, remember that help is available with tasks that you might find difficult, such as dealing with paperwork and keeping records of what your direct payments have been spent on. You can also nominate someone to manage your direct payments for you. This could be a friend or family member.

If you lack mental capacity to make decisions about your care, you are still entitled to direct payments. A suitable person must manage the direct payments on your behalf. That could be:

• someone with power of attorney
• a deputy appointed by the Court of Protection (or a guardian appointed by the local sheriff court in Scotland)
• someone the council has agreed is suitable.

The council should also involve you as far as possible: for example, by communicating in ways that you understand, or by considering what you had previously said your wishes were.

If you decide to use your direct payments to employ someone as a care worker (also called a personal assistant) you will have some legal responsibilities as an employer. These include:

• providing contracts and terms of employment
• paying the National Minimum Wage or National Living Wage
• deducting tax and National Insurance
• managing holiday and sick pay
• following health and safety legislation
• possibly enrolling your care worker in a pension scheme.

Your council should provide you with details of local organisations that can give you advice about becoming an employer and help you to find a suitable carer. You can also find information on employing staff for the first time on Gov.uk.

If you are a carer, you should start by having a carer’s assessment. If you qualify for help in your caring role and the council pays for some or all of your support, you can usually choose to receive this in the form of direct payments.  You can’t use your direct payments to buy services for the person you’re caring for. For more information, see our guide Caring for someone.

In England and Scotland, if your local council is going to help arrange your care, you have the right to know how much money they have calculated will be needed to meet your care needs. In England, this is called your 'personal budget'. Your personal budget must be high enough to meet your eligible care needs and any other needs that your council decides should be met.

The council will not necessarily provide the total amount of money needed for your personal budget. Depending on your financial situation, you may have to contribute some of your own money towards this.

You may be able to receive the council's contribution towards it in a number of ways, including:

• direct payments (also available in Wales)
• managed budgets – the council or a third-party organisation manages the money and arranges services for you, but you’re involved as much possible in deciding how it’s spent (England and Scotland only)
• individual service funds (ISF) – you make the decisions, but a separate service provider manages the money and the practical side of things (England and Scotland only).

You can also choose to have a combination of these in England and Scotland. The council must agree with your choice and should provide you with information and advice to help you make a decision.

You could use a support planning service (also called a brokerage service). Some voluntary organisations offer them. If the support planning service isn’t free, the cost should be included as part of your personal budget. Ask your council for details of services in your area.

If you’re moving into a care home permanently, you must also be given a personal budget and a care plan, but you can’t receive direct payments.