1) How many of your authority’s customers are in receipt of a direct payment for Care Act services?
2,166 adults (as of 01 September 2021)
2) What was the combined value of all Care Act budgets delivered through direct payments made in 2020 and 2019?
| Year | Gross Payment | Client contribution | Net Payment |
| 2019/2020 | £28,399,000 | £2,573,000 | £25,826,000 |
| 2020/2021 | £29,938,000 | £2,734,000 | £26,092,000 |
3) What is the median amount of a gross direct payment made on behalf of your organisation?
£188.01 per week (as of 30 June 2021)
4) How frequently are direct payments made (i.e., weekly, fortnightly, 28 days or calendar month). Please provide a breakdown.
4 Weekly
5) How many of your direct payment clients receive their payment into a prepaid card or managed account? Provide a breakdown of the numbers.
As of 30 June 2020 there were 3,938 active accounts as follows:
| Programme | Active Accounts |
| Direct Payments and Personal Health Budgets for Adults | 1,505 |
| Direct Payments and Personal Health Budgets for Children | 1,286 |
| Managed Accounts for Adults | 957 |
| Managed Accounts for Children | 63 |
| Carers | 0 |
| Instant Issue | 10 |
| ISF | 0 |
| New Key ISF | 12 |
| Direct Payments for Care Leavers | 105 |
| TOTAL | 3,938 |
6) Which prepaid card suppliers has your organisation contracted with?
Pre-paid financial services/ EML
7) What is the applicable contract length with these providers and when do these arrangements come up for renewal?
The current contract runs from 01 March 2021 to 28 February 2025.
8) Does your organisation use prepaid cards to disburse funds to other people (i.e., asylum seekers, refugees, homeless). If so, please can you provide a breakdown of the median amount, recipient category, frequency of funds disbursed and the total value of funds made in 2020 and 2019, please?
For the groups above, the following spend information is available:
2019 – £6840 spent
2020 – £800 spent
A full breakdown is held however it is not held in a manner that can be easily extracted from our systems. We estimate that it would take greater than the 18 hours that the Council is obliged to spend answering a freedom of information request to provide a response to this question. Under the Freedom of Information and Data Protection (Appropriate Limit and Fees) Regulations 2004 public authorities are not obliged to comply with requests which exceed the cost limit of £450 (equating to 18 hours of time). As such, we consider that Section 12 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 applies.
9) Is your s151 Officer (CFO) aware of the recent £32 million GBP fine levied against Mastercard, allpay and PFS for allegedly operating a cartel in the public sector prepaid card space? Link to PSR article here
Yes
10) Has your organisation released a statement about these proceedings and if so, please can you provide it?
No, a statement has not been released, therefore this information is not held