Adult Social Care Glossary, v 0.6

A way of managing a personal budget that a growing number of councils have introduced. Instead of making direct payments into a bank acccount for you to use, the council puts the funds on a card, which you then use to make payments to personal assistants or for services. In this way the council can see where the budget is going, and potentially restrict the way that funds are used. The Care Act 2014 says that a preparment card cannot be your only option for receiving direct payments, and you can choose not to have one if you prefer.