Auditing your Direct Payments

Documents you need to provide for an audit

It is your responsibility to ensure suitable records and documentation are kept for audit purposes and provided to the Direct Payments Team when requested. The information you are required to keep includes:

• Evidence of all account expenditure (e.g. receipts, invoices, payroll etc).
• Bank statements for your Direct Payments Bank Account - where you have a Direct Payments Card Account, statements do not need to be provided as they will be accessed directly by the Direct Payments Team.

If you have a Managed Account, we will liaise directly with the Managed Account provider regarding the audit process.

What happens during an audit

During each audit, account expenditure will be reviewed with a summary provided to your social worker or care coordinator. Any identified overuse or expenditure that cannot be evidenced or has not been approved, will be discussed with them and you may be issued with an invoice to repay this from your own personal funds. The Direct Payments Team retains the right to review previous audits retrospectively, should new information be made available that identifies any misuse of funds.

Following each audit, any surplus funding in your account will be calculated, taking into consideration any unpaid wages or invoices and an appropriate contingency amount. This will be recovered as follows:

• If you have a Direct Payments Card, the surplus will be recovered automatically from your Direct Payments Card Account - a letter will be sent to you providing notice of this.
• If you have your own separate Direct Payments bank account, in order to return the surplus an invoice will be issued to you, to be paid from this account.

Compliance with the audit process is a condition of receiving Direct Payments and any failure to do so would be in breach of your Direct Payments Agreement and could result in your Direct Payments being withdrawn.