Non-residential care
Disability Related Expenditure (DRE)
Our Disability Related Expenditure (DRE) policy is operated in line with the statutory guidance on charging for care and support under the Care Act 2014 provided in the Department of Health Care and Support Statutory Guidance (CASS) published in October 2014.
What is Disability Related Expenditure (DRE)?
Sometimes, a person with a disability or illness may find that because of their disability they need to spend more money each week than a person without a disability.
Disability Related Expenditure is the additional money that you need to spend each week, on costs that are specifically related to your disability.
This expenditure is taken into account in your financial assessment to make sure that if you pay towards your care and support, that you have enough money to live on. Unless we have assessed you as not having to pay a contribution to your service at all, if we allow any such costs, this may reduce the financial contribution you have been assessed to pay.
What is considered as disability related expenditure?
Below is a list of some the areas that will be considered but please note this is not an exhaustive list and we will consider other spending you have if associated to your disability or medical condition/ill-health:
Disability related expenditure can be related to:
- your day-to-day equipment, such as aids, services, or items you must use because of your disability
- things you use at different times of the year, like extra heating in winter due to your disability
- something you need to buy or pay for to manage everyday tasks that you would not otherwise have to if it wasn’t for your disability
Further information
The amount of DRE you spend is deducted from the financial assessment when determining your assessed charge (the amount you may be asked to contribute to your care). This only applies when receiving Non-Residential care.
The banded option offers a standard weekly DRE allowance based on your disability related benefit income (see below). This is easier to administer as it reduces the requirements requirements for you to provide DRE evidence which would need to be verified by us. These standard allowances are increased in line with annual inflationary increases.
For latest allowance rates please see Appendix 1 of our Disability Related Expenditure Policy.
Standard (banded) DRE model
|
Band |
Details |
|---|---|
|
Band 1 |
Not in receipt of disability related benefits. |
|
Band 2 |
Lower or middle rate care component of Disability Living Allowance (DLA), standard daily living component of Personal Independence Payment (PIP) or lower rate Attendance Allowance (AA) |
|
Band 3 |
Higher rate care component of Disability Living Allowance (DLA), Enhanced daily living component of Personal Independence Payment (PIP) or higher rate Attendance Allowance (AA) |
Should you feel that the standard (banded) weekly allowance does not accurately reflect your DRE, you may request an individual DRE full assessment. This may involve a home visit by a member of staff from the Client Finance team, who will require supporting evidence of all expenditure. An individual assessment of DRE may result in a lower or higher assessment than the standard award as a result.
Where it is clear and evidenced how it relates to your disability, types of expenditure made necessary might include:
- Payment for community alarm system
- Privately arranged care or domestic help
- Higher than usual fuel bills
- Additional costs due to a special diet
- Purchase of equipment such as a stair lift or electric wheelchair
- Additional laundry costs
- Additional cost of clothing, bedding and footwear
- Basic garden maintenance
The above list is not exhaustive, and any reasonable additional costs related to disability will be considered in light of individual needs.
Please see our Disability Related Expenditure policy which contains additional information and sets out our usual standard or maximum allowances for a specific individual DRE full assessment.
You must submit all requests for individual full assessment DRE items as these would need to be verified by us.
In deciding if a cost can be allowed in your financial assessment we will consider what is included in your agreed care and support plan, although allowable costs are not restricted to what is stated in the support plan, certain items may need senior Adult Social Care officer approval and will be agreed by a DRE Panel which meets on a monthly basis. You will be informed of the Panel decision within 10 working days of the Panel meeting.
When requesting a full assessment of DRE, you will be asked to answer the three questions below for each item of DRE under consideration:
- Whether the costs are disability-related – i.e. there is little or no choice but to incur the cost
- Whether the costs are necessary and reasonably incurred – i.e. they are closely connected to the need and operate to meet or help alleviate it and are viewed fairly and objectively, also, that the expenditure must be reasonable and not extravagant or disproportionate to the need it addresses
- Whether the costs are for care and support - i.e. it is important that you tell us why you believe an expenditure item is related to your medical condition and/or disability.
You must provide expenditure evidence in the form of bills, invoices, website order history and statements, to support any requested DRE items. If these are not provided, we will use our discretion to decide if the expenses can be agreed without the required evidence.
You have the right to appeal a Panel decision. To do so, you must provide additional information supporting your case, in order for the appeal to be heard as a Reconsideration. Please be advised that, as any reconsideration decision is final, no further right of appeal to us is available. You will be informed of the Panel decision within 10 working days of the Panel meeting. Should you remain dissatisfied with the actions, you may wish to register a formal complaint by accessing the our complaints procedure.
- General Items or services required for daily living and used by the general population;
- Any item or service met by a payment from a Government grant e.g. Disability Facilities Grant), or where another funding source has been provided or is available;
- Health related items provided via GPs;
- NHS related – e.g. where you are eligible for help with NHS costs but have opted to buy goods and services privately. This includes help paying for hospital travel, sight tests, glasses, contact lenses, NHS wigs, surgical supports and medication.
- Where an item exceeds the allowance given (as detailed above), or is not named within the list. For these items, you will need to provide us with information as to why the additional cost should be considered.
