A summary of the Department of Health (DoH) Figures for Direct Payments Users in the UK in 2002

Report to the ENIL Board Meeting
8th March 2003 Southampton

by Frances Hasler, 2003-03

The Department of Health has published monitoring figures for direct payments usage, based on information from September 2002. They show an overall growth in numbers since 2001 from 5423 to 7882. The most dramatic increase in take up is among carers (more than four times as many as previously). Some groups – people with learning difficulties, mental health service users and older people – have roughly doubled their numbers. Growth among people with physical impairment has been smaller – just 30%.

But user numbers in most authorities remain low, with the majority of authorities having fewer than fifty users. Eighteen authorities have between 100 and 200 users, and two (Essex and Hampshire) have over 600 users. More than 20 authorities have ten or fewer direct payments users.

Authorities with greatest numbers of users
500+	Essex, Hampshire
100-200	Southampton, Norfolk, Lincolnshire, West Sussex, Norfolk, Birmingham, Cheshire, Durham, Cumbria, Lancashire, Manchester, Nottinghamshire, Portsmouth, Derbyshire, Sheffield

Authorities with fewest users
10 or under	City of London, Isles of Scilly, Bracknell Forest, Bromley, Bury, Dudley, Havering, Reading, Windsor & Maidenhead, Slough, South Tyneside, Sunderland, Thurrock, Wandsworth, Rutland. York, Wokingham

Authorities with greatest numbers of people with learning difficulties on direct payments
Over 30 users	Essex, Hampshire, Kent, Durham
15-30 users	Warrington, Wiltshire Oxfordshire, Liverpool, Lancashire, Cumbria, Cambridgeshire

Authorities with greatest numbers of older people on direct payments
Over 30 users	Cumbria, Derbyshire, Essex, Hampshire, Lancashire
15-30 users	Barnet, Cambridgeshire, Croydon, Durham, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire, Sheffield, Shropshire, Somerset, Staffordshire, Stoke on Trent, Southampton, West Sussex

Authorities with greatest numbers of mental health service users on direct payments
10- 20 users	Essex, Liverpool, Staffordshire, Hampshire

Authorities with greatest numbers of carers on direct payments
More than 10 users	Durham, Manchester, Portsmouth

 

Authorities with greatest number of carers of disabled children using direct payments
More than 10 users	Cumbria, Dorset, Essex, Hampshire, Kirklees
5 – 10 users	Blackpool Devon Kent Leeds Staffordshire, Torbay, Westminster

 

Totals for each user group 2002 (2001)
Older people	1032 (537)
Learning disability	736 (353)
Physical disability	5459 (4274)
Sensory impairment	159 (100)
Young carers	3 (3)
Mental health	132 (61)
Carers of disabled children	228 (66)
Disabled 16 & 17 year olds	38 (8)
Carers	95 (21)

Please note: figures are only as good as the people who supplied them, and a few are missing from the total. This report is drawn from the Dept of Health monitoring tables; if you have corrections to this, please let NCIL know.