Direct paymentsBlaenau Gwent
Direct payments in Blaenau Gwent
If the council has agreed to pay towards care at home, you can take the money as a direct payment and choose who provides the care. Blaenau Gwent County Borough Council says a direct payment can pay a self-employed carer, with some checks first. Below is what the council publishes about its rates and rules, and what an hour of care costs near you.
12 self-employed carers within about 45 minutes of Blaenau Gwent
What the council pays
Direct payment rates in Blaenau Gwent
Blaenau Gwent County Borough Council does not publish its direct payment rates anywhere we could find. Your budget is set in your support plan, from the cost of meeting your eligible needs less anything you are assessed to pay yourself. Ask the council which hourly rate it used, because that decides how many hours the budget buys.
Choosing your carer
Paying a self-employed carer in Blaenau Gwent
Blaenau Gwent County Borough Council allows a direct payment to pay a self-employed carer, with conditions. A direct payment can be used to buy care from a self-employed carer, but the council advises you to check the person's employment status and get the council's agreement before you take them on.
“As a Direct Payment Recipient, it is recommended you check and obtain agreement from the Local Authority before engaging the services of a self-employed care worker.”
Councils tend to ask for the same few things before a direct payment pays a self-employed carer:
- the carer's employment status for tax, which HMRC's Check Employment Status for Tax tool on gov.uk works out in a few minutes
- proof that the carer is insured
- a DBS certificate
- an invoice for the hours worked, which becomes your record of how the money was spent
How direct payments work covers asking for one, what the money can buy and the records councils want back, and self-employed carer or employee? explains the tax question.
The council's arrangements
How direct payments are run in Blaenau Gwent
What the council publishes about paying the money, getting help and getting in touch. Each card links to the page we checked it against.
How the money is paid: Separate bank account
Money is paid every four weeks into a bank account set up specifically for the direct payment and kept separate from personal money.
How the money is paid: Other arrangement
If you cannot open a separate bank account, the council can arrange another way of getting the money to you while you keep control of your care.
Help with running it
Blaenau Gwent Direct Payments Team (the council's own Direct Payments Support Service). Blaenau Gwent Direct Payments Team. If you want help finding a personal assistant, the council's direct payments team can support you with the recruitment process.
Visit Blaenau Gwent Direct Payments Team (the council's own Direct Payments Support Service)
Where the council points you to find a personal assistant
Worth knowing
A personal assistant employed through a Blaenau Gwent direct payment needs a Disclosure and Barring Service check that has to be renewed every three years.
Worth knowing
Someone who is dependent on drugs or alcohol can still have a direct payment if a suitable person agrees to manage the money and the employment duties for them.
Worth knowing
Payments are usually made every four weeks, but arrangements differ if you receive a one-off payment, if an annual amount is agreed and paid once a year, or if a piece of equipment is to be purchased.
Who is available
Self-employed carers in Blaenau Gwent
12 carers are based within about 45 minutes of Blaenau Gwent. You can see their rates and experience, and message them, before committing to anything.
12 private carers are based within about 45 minutes of Blaenau Gwent
Filter by what they charge, who drives, who does nights, and who speaks your language, then message the ones you like. Free, and nothing is booked until you say so.
See private carers for Blaenau GwentStep by step
Using a direct payment for a carer you choose
- Get the assessment and the support plan. The council assesses the care needed and works out the budget. Say at this stage that you want a direct payment and would like to choose your own carer.
- Check what the council allows. Ask the direct payments team whether it will pay a self-employed carer and what it needs to see from them.
- Find carers and talk to a few. Search carers near you, compare rates, experience and reviews, and message your shortlist. None of that costs anything.
- Agree the hours and rate in writing. Match them to the support plan, and keep within the budget once bank holidays are allowed for.
- Keep the records. Invoices and statements are what the council looks at when it reviews how the direct payment is being used.
Questions
Questions about direct payments in Blaenau Gwent
Yes. A direct payment can be used to buy care from a self-employed carer, but the council advises you to check the person's employment status and get the council's agreement before you take them on. The checks a council asks for are usually the carer's employment status for tax, their insurance and their DBS certificate. Carers on PrimeCarers are self-employed, hold an enhanced DBS and are insured while they work, and they invoice for the hours worked.
We could not find a rate that Blaenau Gwent County Borough Council publishes. The amount is set in your support plan, worked out from the cost of meeting your eligible needs, less anything the financial assessment says you pay yourself. Ask the council how it calculated the hourly figure, because that decides how many hours the budget buys.
It depends on the rate the council used. Carers near you typically charge £19.20 an hour. Divide your weekly budget by that to see the hours it buys, and remember that bank holidays are charged at one and a half times the usual rate.
In Wales the council can allow a direct payment to pay a relative who lives in the same household where it considers that necessary to promote the person’s well-being. Where it does not, it has to rule the payment out. That is the Welsh direct payments regulations rather than this council's own rule, so ask the direct payments team how it applies it. Can my mum pay me to care for her? covers the other routes.
Only if you employ somebody. Paying a self-employed carer or an agency does not make anyone an employer. Taking on a personal assistant does, which brings payroll, holiday pay, sick pay, pension enrolment and employer's liability insurance. HMRC's Check Employment Status for Tax tool on gov.uk tells you which applies.
Blaenau Gwent County Borough Council's direct payments team on 01495 369624 or at [email protected]. If you do not have a social worker or care assessment yet, start with a needs assessment from adult social care.
Council details were read from Blaenau Gwent County Borough Council's published pages and checked against them on 17 September 2026. Councils change their rates each April, so check the linked page before relying on a figure. Carer rates are what carers near you advertise, read live.
Find a carer in Blaenau Gwent
See self-employed carers near you with their hourly rates, experience and reviews, and talk to the ones you like for free. Check with the council what your direct payment can pay for before you book.