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Find out about changes to our services and Christmas opening times on our Festive information page. To find out when your bin will be collected over the festive period, visit Changes to County Durham bin collections at Christmas.

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Direct Payments - moving from children's to adult services


When your child reaches the age of 18 there will be some changes. We will support you with these. Your social worker will inform us if there are any amendments to the agreed direct payments amounts or services.

The Financial Assessment team will contact you to discuss your child's finances and calculate if any contribution will now be due towards their agreed care and support services. At this stage you can decide if you wish to continue with direct payments. 

Following the assessment, if your contribution is greater than the cost of the agreed services, your direct payments would stop.

If direct payments continue, a new Direct Payments Agreement will need to be completed and your child may need to provide a signature. We will discuss this with you, along with any necessary changes on how the direct payment is currently being used. 

If you employ someone using your Direct Payments, there may need to be a change to the terms and conditions of their contract. We will support you with this and provide you with the necessary amendment forms. 

For any employment law advice, you should call the advice line connected to your insurance: 

  • Peninsula (Fish Insurance) - Telephone 0844 8922 772
  • ILG (Premier Insurance) - Telephone 01476 512 192 or email advice@ilgsupport.com 

When your child leaves Children's Services an audit of their direct payments account is carried out. Any unused hours cannot be carried forward unless this is agreed by a social worker from the responsible Children's Team.



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