# The Community Care (Direct Payments) Regulations 1997, Note: Explanatory note


(This note is not part of the Regulations)
The Community Care (Direct Payments) Act 1996 (“the Act”) is to come into force on 1st April 1997. The Act enables local authorities responsible for providing (or arranging the provision of) community care services to make direct payments to persons in respect of their securing the provision of such services.
These Regulations specify persons, to whom direct payments may be made under section 1 of the Act, as being disabled persons to whom section 29 of the National Assistance Act 1948 applies and who appear to the authority to be capable of managing a direct payment by themselves or with assistance. The Regulations except from this description any person who is aged 65 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 specify for the purposes of section 1(4) 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 specify for the purposes of section 1(5) 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).
Businesses will not incur costs due to these Regulations.

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Source: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1997/734/note (the official version)
Page: https://openlegislation.uk/community-care-direct-payments-regulations-1997/note
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives.