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Your payments

When the ILF first started paying you, you had to decide who would be providing the care for you. This could be:

• a care agency
• your own personal assistant
• both a care agency and your own personal assistant

You or the person responsible for your ILF money (eg a Power of Attorney) needed to complete an agreement form to confirm:

• the amount of money you are accepting
• whom you will pay with the ILF money
• the details of the bank account the money will be paid into

If you change how your care is provided, you will need to complete another agreement form.

The ILF is unable to accept an agreement form that you have printed yourself. If you need an agreement form please contact the ILF and they will send you one in the post. You can find an example of the agreement form below.

• Independent Living Fund contact details

• Download 'Example ILF agreement form' (PDF, 58K) Opens new window

• Download 'Guidance for completing the ILF agreement form' (PDF, 895K) Opens new window

• Help with PDF files

Power of Attorney, Deputies and Benefits Appointees

A number of other people can be involved in helping you use your ILF money:

• a Power of Attorney who has been given the legal right to act on your behalf
• a Deputy who deals with your health issues and your money
• a Benefits Appointee who deals with your benefits

• The roles and duties of an attorney under a Lasting Power of Attorney (government, citizens and rights section)

How often you will be paid

Your money is paid every four weeks directly into your bank or building society account. If you cannot manage your own money, the ILF may make payments to a third party.

You will normally get the same amount every time, unless there has been a change in your circumstances.

What you can spend the money on

You can use the ILF money to pay for personal care and domestic assistance. This can include domestic duties, grooming and moving about.

If you employ a personal assistant, some costs will be added to the wages you pay, like employer’s National Insurance contributions and holiday pay.

ILF money cannot be used to pay for care provided by a relative who lives with you. You can only use ILF money to pay a relative to provide services as long as they do not live with you.

• The Independent Living Fund - what you can spend your money on

Becoming an employer

If you employ someone to provide care, you become an employer. That means that you are required to keep certain records. These can include information about the amount of money you pay your carer and the hours they have worked for you.

Your responsibilities

You or your representative have responsibilities because you get money from the ILF. You must:

• keep records showing how you have spent your ILF money
• tell the ILF of changes in your life, such as your marital status or your benefits
• return any monies to the ILF that you do not spend on care

You can keep a reserve of money of up to one week of your normal award to pay for any emergency care you need. Any money over this amount that has not been set aside for employment costs must be returned.

What happens if you go into residential care or hospital

After you have gone into care or hospital, the ILF will normally continue to pay you for 28 days. The money can be used to pay your carer while you're in hospital or for any extra care you need when you’ve gone home. If you do not want your payments to continue while you are in care or hospital, you must let the ILF know.

From day 29, there will not be any further payments until you tell the ILF that you have gone home and are employing care again.

You must let the ILF know every time you go into residential care or hospital. If you don’t, the ILF may overpay you, and you will have to pay this money back.

How your payments will be started again

Once the payments have stopped, your application will be kept open for three months. This means that if you start employing care within three months, the ILF will pay you again.

If there has been a change in your circumstances, the ILF may visit you to make sure it is paying you the right amount.

If you need more time and are still within the first three months, you can ask for an extension of another three months. The maximum amount of time the ILF can keep your file open for is nine months.

Please note that the ILF is permanently closed to new applications.

More useful links

• The Independent Living Fund - how your payments are calculated

• How the Independent Living Fund will review your payments