Section 12B: Regulations about direct payments, National Health Service Act 2006

The Secretary of State may make regulations about direct payments.

The regulations may in particular make provision—

as to circumstances in which, and descriptions of persons and services in respect of which, direct payments may or must be made;

as to circumstances in which direct payments may or must be made to a person nominated by the patient;

as to the making of direct payments (and, in particular, as to persons to whom payments may or must be made) where the patient lacks capacity to consent to the making of the payments;

as to conditions that the Secretary of State , NHS England, an integrated care board or a local authority must comply with before, after or at the time of making a direct payment;

as to conditions that the patient or (if different) the payee may or must be required to comply with before, after, or at the time when a direct payment is made;

as to the amount of any direct payment or how it is to be calculated;

as to circumstances in which the Secretary of State , NHS England, an integrated care board or a local authority may or must stop making direct payments;

as to circumstances in which the Secretary of State , NHS England, an integrated care board or a local authority may or must require all or part of a direct payment to be repaid, by the payee or otherwise;

as to monitoring of the making of direct payments, of their use by the payee, or of services which they are used to secure;

as to arrangements to be made by the Secretary of State , NHS England, an integrated care board or a local authority for providing patients, payees or their representatives with information, advice or other support in connection with direct payments;

for such support to be treated to any prescribed extent as a service in respect of which direct payments may be made.

If the regulations make provision in the case of a person who lacks capacity to consent to direct payments being made, they may apply that provision, or make corresponding provision, with or without modifications, in the case of a person who has lacked that capacity but no longer does so (whether because of fluctuating capacity, or regaining or gaining capacity).

The regulations may provide for a sum which must be repaid to the Secretary of State , NHS England, an integrated care board or a local authority by virtue of a condition or other requirement imposed by or under the regulations to be recoverable as a debt due to the Secretary of State NHS England, a clinical commissioning group or a local authority (as the case may be).

The regulations may make provision—

for a service in respect of which a direct payment has been made under section 12A(1) to be regarded, only to such extent and subject to such conditions as may be prescribed, as provided or arranged for by the Secretary of State or a local authority or as arranged for by NHS England or an integrated care board (as the case may be) under an enactment mentioned in section 12A(2);

displacing functions or obligations of NHS England, an integrated care board or a local authority with respect to the arrangement for the provision of after-care services under section 117 of the Mental Health Act 1983, only to such extent and subject to such conditions as may be prescribed.

In this section—

"service" includes anything in respect of which direct payments may be made;

references to a person lacking capacity are references to a person lacking capacity within the meaning of the Mental Capacity Act 2005.

Section 12B: Regulations about direct payments

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