Respite Care Scotland, 2014

5. Financial values of Direct Payments for the purpose of providing respite care

Some people choose to receive a cash payment (called a Direct Payment) to buy the care services that they need. By giving people money instead of social care services, they have greater choice and control over their life and are able to make their own decisions about how care is delivered. From 2012/13 onwards, Local Authorities have been asked to submit information on the financial values of Direct Payments received for the purpose of providing respite care, which may then be converted to an estimate of weeks of care (as discussed in Section 3). Only 18 out of 32 Local Authorities were able to submit Direct Payment information for 2013/14, so the analysis contained in this section should be considered to remain preliminary.

More than £10 million was spent during 2013/14 on Direct Payments for respite care by the 18 Local Authorities who were able to submit such information. Due to the incomplete data coverage, this figure necessarily represents a lower bound estimate to the true amount spent across Scotland.

Chart 10 shows that adults aged 18-64 were the cared-for age group which received the largest total value (almost £6 million) of Direct Payments for respite care in 2013/14.

Chart 10 - Value of Direct Payments for respite care (£ millions), by cared-for age group, 2013/14

Source: Scottish Government 2013/14
Note: Only 18 out of 32 Local Authorities submitted Direct Payments data, such that the figures shown here are likely to be smaller than the true Scotland level figures. Furthermore, two of these Authorities only submitted partial data, which may affect the proportions associated with the different cared-for age groups.
Units are millions of £ (rounded to the nearest decimal place).

Chart 11 shows the per-capita financial values of Direct Payments received for respite care in 2013/14, for the 16 Local Authorities for whom Direct Payment data was available across all cared-for age groups.

Chart 11 - Rates of Direct Payments expenditure (£ per 1,000 population), 2013/14, by Local Authority

Source: Scottish Government 2013/14
Populations: National Records of Scotland, mid-year estimate 2013
Note: Falkirk and South Ayrshire were only able to report Direct Payment expenditure for certain cared-for age groups and are not shown in this chart, which is expressed per capita of the entire population of each Local Authority.
Note: No Scotland level figure is shown, due to the incomplete data coverage.
Units are £ per 1,000 population