Legislation – Care Act 2014
Changes to legislation:
Care Act 2014, Section 32 is up to date with all changes known to be in force on or before 04 April 2026. There are changes that may be brought into force at a future date. Changes that have been made appear in the content and are referenced with annotations.
Changes to Legislation
Revised legislation carried on this site may not be fully up to date. Changes and effects are recorded by our editorial team in lists which can be found in the ‘Changes to Legislation’ area. Where those effects have yet to be applied to the text of the legislation by the editorial team they are also listed alongside the legislation in the affected provisions. Use the ‘more’ link to open the changes and effects relevant to the provision you are viewing.
Changes and effects yet to be applied to Section 32:
- s. 15(2)–(3B) substituted for s. 15(2)(3) by 2022 c. 31 s. 166(2)
- s. 26(1)–(2A) substituted for s. 26(1)(2) by 2022 c. 31 s. 166(4)
- s. 32(1)(a) substituted by 2022 c. 31 s. 166(8)
Changes and effects yet to be applied to the whole Act associated Parts and Chapters:
Whole provisions yet to be inserted into this Act (including any effects on those provisions):
- s. 15(2)–(3B) substituted for s. 15(2)(3) by 2022 c. 31 s. 166(2)
- s. 26(1)–(2A) substituted for s. 26(1)(2) by 2022 c. 31 s. 166(4)
PART 1Care and support
Direct payments
32Adults without capacity to request direct payments
(1)
This section applies where—
(a)
a personal budget for an adult specifies an amount which the local authority must pay towards the cost of meeting the needs to which the personal budget relates, and
(b)
the adult lacks capacity to request the local authority to meet any of those needs by making payments to the adult, but
(c)
an authorised person requests the local authority to meet some or all of those needs by making payments to the authorised person.
(2)
If conditions 1 to 5 are met, the local authority must, subject to regulations under section 33, make the payments to which the request relates to the authorised person.
(3)
A payment under this section is referred to in this Part as a “direct payment”.
(4)
A person is authorised for the purposes of this section if—
(a)
the person is authorised under the Mental Capacity Act 2005 to make decisions about the adult’s needs for care and support,
(b)
where the person is not authorised as mentioned in paragraph (a), a person who is so authorised agrees with the local authority that the person is a suitable person to whom to make direct payments, or
(c)
where the person is not authorised as mentioned in paragraph (a) and there is no person who is so authorised, the local authority considers that the person is a suitable person to whom to make direct payments.
(5)
Condition 1 is that, where the authorised person is not authorised as mentioned in subsection (4)(a) but there is at least one person who is so authorised, a person who is so authorised supports the authorised person’s request.
(6)
Condition 2 is that—
(a)
the local authority is not prohibited by regulations under section 33 from meeting the adult’s needs by making direct payments to the authorised person, and
(b)
if regulations under that section give the local authority discretion to decide not to meet the adult’s needs by making direct payments to the authorised person, it does not exercise that discretion.
(7)
Condition 3 is that the local authority is satisfied that the authorised person will act in the adult’s best interests in arranging for the provision of the care and support for which the direct payments under this section would be used.
(8)
Condition 4 is that the local authority is satisfied that the authorised person is capable of managing direct payments—
(a)
by himself or herself, or
(b)
with whatever help the authority thinks the authorised person will be able to access.
(9)
Condition 5 is that the local authority is satisfied that making direct payments to the authorised person is an appropriate way to meet the needs in question.