Supporting Access to Blue Sky Social Care Cards
Local Authorities and other commissioners can choose to support access to the Blue Sky Social Care Card (BSSCC) through existing local funding arrangements.
Depending on your local policies and eligibility criteria, this could include Direct Payments, Carers Grants or other locally commissioned funding.
One funding route, multiple people supported
Local Authorities can choose to allow Direct Payment funding to cover Blue Sky Social Care Cards for different people involved in a person’s care and support arrangements.
This could include:
Personal Assistants
A BSSCC can provide verified social care identification for PAs employed through a Direct Payment, helping them demonstrate their professional role.
This can provide a practical way of recognising everyone involved in delivering and supporting care, while giving Direct Payment users greater choice over how their funding is used.
Direct Payment Employers
A BSSCC can provide verified identification for people who employ their own Personal Assistants through a Direct Payment.
Unpaid Carers
Where appropriate, Direct Payment arrangements may support the cost of a BSSCC for an unpaid carer providing care to the Direct Payment recipient.
This can provide a practical way of recognising everyone involved in delivering and supporting care, while giving Direct Payment users greater choice over how their funding is used.
Funding eligibility is a local decision. Each Local Authority or ICB determines whether BSSCC expenditure is an allowable use of Direct Payment funding and what evidence or approval is required.
Carers Grants
Carers Grants may also provide an opportunity to fund the BSSCC.
Where local grant criteria allow, carers could use their existing grant funding towards their card, giving them verified identification alongside access to discounts, recognition and other opportunities.
The BSSCC is not a separate national grant. It can only be funded where the relevant local funding scheme permits it.
Why verification matters
The BSSCC uses a robust verification process to establish that an applicant genuinely holds the role they are applying for.
For unpaid carers, this means confirming a genuine caring role rather than applying an arbitrary minimum number of caring hours.
Caring doesn’t happen on a stopwatch.
Interested in offering BSSCC in your area?
We work with Local Authorities, Direct Payment Support Services and carer organisations to develop practical funding, referral and verification arrangements.
Talk to Blue Sky Card about how the BSSCC could work within your local funding arrangements.
Funding eligibility is determined locally. Please check your own Direct Payment, Carers Grant or commissioning policies before confirming BSSCC as an allowable cost.