A personal wheelchair budget – which used to be called the wheelchair voucher scheme – allows greater choice and control over your mobility needs, giving you the chance to personalise your chair, your way.
There are three different types of personal wheelchair budgets for you to choose from. You can opt for standard NHS provision, go for top-up options or choose a private alternative approved supplier.
Notional
This is the standard NHS provision of a wheelchair based on a clinical assessment of your needs. The wheelchair remains the property of the NHS and the NHS pays to maintain the equipment in relation to normal wear and tear in line with our terms and conditions of loan.
Notional Combined
This is equivalent to the partnership voucher in the voucher scheme. As with the notional PWB, you will be assessed to identify equipment that will meet your clinical needs.
You will then have the option of using the value of this equipment to purchase another chair within the wheelchair service standard range, or to top up the PWB to purchase extras for the wheelchair, which would not ordinarily be provided.
The wheelchair would remain the property of the NHS and the NHS will continue to undertake maintenance on the wheelchair. If you have chosen a top-up option, you may need to pay for the repair of these items yourself. The equipment would be provided under our standard terms and conditions.
Third party
This is equivalent to the independent voucher in the voucher scheme and is similar to the combined PWB. You will have an additional amount of money towards the repair and maintenance of the wheelchair added to your PWB by the wheelchair service. You are then free to use the money towards a wheelchair of your choice from any approved supplier of wheelchairs.
Any equipment purchased using a third party PWB would be your property and you would be responsible for maintaining and repairing it, as well as paying the difference between the PWB value and the cost of the equipment.
Personal wheelchair support plan
Before your wheelchair assessment, you will be asked to think about the things that are most important to you, by completing the personal wheelchair support plan, which will help you and the therapist to find the most appropriate wheelchair/seating solution.
If you’d like to know more about personal wheelchair budgets and what they can do for you, view or download our brochure or get in touch with our friendly team of experts on