ADP daily living component activity 10 – making budgeting decisions

This chapter provides information on activity 10 of the daily living component of Adult Disability Payment (ADP).

This chapter should be read and applied in line with the overview of decision making and the daily living component introduction. 

What daily living component activity 10 considers

Daily living component activity 10 considers:

• an individual’s ability to make budgeting decisions, either simple or complex
• an individual’s cognitive ability to complete a budgeting task

What daily living component activity 10 does not consider

It does not consider:

• their ability to either leave the house to pay bills
• the handling of money or
• where the individual is unable to pay bills due to a lack of money

Meaning of terms

Simple budgeting decisions

Simple budgeting decisions are those that are involved in calculating the cost of goods and working out how much change should be given following purchases.

Meaning of complex budgeting decisions

Complex budgeting decisions include decisions, such as:

• calculating household and personal budgets, for example, knowing how much money is left to spend once bills are paid
• managing and paying bills, for example, setting aside money from income for gas and electricity bills
• planning future purchases, for example, knowing that saving is required when necessary

Daily living component activity 10 does not include the sort of decisions which require financial knowledge, such as calculating interest rates or comparing mortgages. These types of decisions are not included in the definition of ‘complex’ for the purposes of daily living component activity 10.

Age of individual

The age of an individual, or whether they have ever done any budgeting, is not relevant.

It is their ability to make budgeting decisions and their level of cognitive ability that is relevant.

An individual’s needs under daily living component activity 10 must be related to their condition or disability, and not their preference to not make budgeting decisions.

Reduced vision or mobility

Reduced vision or mobility are not relevant to making budgeting decisions.

For example, a blind individual may be unable to see price tags or bank notes, and therefore, require assistance when buying things.

This does not mean that they are unable to make budgeting decisions, and so their difficulties with shopping would not be relevant to this activity.

Assistance

Assistance for the purposes of daily living component activity 10 describes another person carrying out some but not all elements of the decision making process for an individual.                                                                                                

Daily living component activity 10 descriptors

The daily living component activity 10 descriptors describe four levels of functional ability to complete the activity:

1. Can manage complex budgeting decisions unaided.
2. Needs prompting or assistance to be able to make complex budgeting decisions.
3. Needs prompting or assistance to be able to make simple budgeting decisions.
4. Cannot make any budgeting decisions at all (ADP regs, Schedule 1 Part 2 - Daily Living Activities, Activity (10)).

You’ll consider if the individual needs prompting or assistance from another person to complete the activity.

Meaning of terms

’Prompting’ means reminding, encouraging or explaining by another person. This does not have to be in the physical presence of the individual.

’Assistance’ means physical intervention by another person and does not include speech.