The Personal Social Services (Direct Payments) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1997

Explanatory Note

(This note is not part of the Regulations.)

The Personal Social Services (Direct Payments) (Northern Ireland) Order 1996 is to come into operation on 1st April 1997. This Order amends the Health and Personal Social Services (Northern Ireland) Order 1972 (“the 1972 Order”) and enables the Department of Health and Social Services to make direct payments to persons in respect of their securing the provision of personal social services.

These Regulations prescribe the description of persons, to whom direct payments may be made under Article 15A(1) of the 1972 Order, as being disabled persons to whom Section 1(1) of the Chronically Sick and Disabled Persons (Northern Ireland) Act 1978 applies and who appear to the Department to be capable of managing a direct payment by themselves or with assistance. The Regulations except from this description any person who is aged sixty-five or over (unless he received a direct payment in the year before he attained the age of 65) and persons whose liberty to arrange their own care is restricted by certain legislation relating to mental health and criminal justice (Regulation 2).

Secondly, these regulations prescribe for the purposes of Article 15A(2) the persons from whom services may not be secured by means of a direct payment as being the spouse of the payee and anyone who lives with him as his spouse; and certain relatives who live in the same household as the payee as well as the spouse of such person and anyone living with such a person as his spouse (Regulation 3).

Lastly, these Regulations prescribe for the purposes of Article 15A(3) the maximum period of residential accommodation which may be secured by means of a direct payment as being four weeks in any twelve month period. In calculating this period of four weeks, a period in residential care of less than four weeks is to be added to a succeeding period in residential care if the two periods are separated by a period of less than four weeks but not otherwise (Regulation 4).