Direct paymentsCardiff
Direct payments in Cardiff
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. Cardiff 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.
41 self-employed carers within about 45 minutes of Cardiff
An hour of care in Cardiff
- A self-employed carer near youTypical rate on PrimeCarers, our fee included
- £20.00
- The council’s agency rateWhat the council allows for agency care, 2026/27
- £25.23
A budget worked out at the agency rate buys more hours from a self-employed carer. What a weekly budget buys each way is set out below.
What the council pays
Direct payment rates in Cardiff
These are the rates Cardiff Council publishes for direct payments, with a link to where each one appears. Your budget is set in your support plan and can differ from them.
| What the rate is for | Rate | Applies | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Direct Payment Agency Rate (care bought from a domiciliary care agency) | £25.23 an hour | 2026/27 | cardiff.moderngov.co.uk |
| Hourly rate funded for a micro-enterprise (very small care and support business) | £19.63 an hour | Not stated | cardiff.gov.uk |
| Direct Payment Agency Rate (care bought from a domiciliary care agency)Older figure | £23.80 an hour | 2025/26 | cardiff.moderngov.co.uk |
Hours for the money
What a weekly budget buys
A direct payment is a sum of money, so the useful comparison is how many hours of care it pays for. Move the slider to your own weekly budget.
Starts at ten hours a week at the agency rate. Move it to match the budget in your support plan.
- A self-employed carer on PrimeCarers12.5 hours
At £20.00 an hour. The typical rate near you, our fee included. The carer invoices for the hours, and that invoice is your record for the council.
- An agency, at the council’s rate9.5 hours
At £25.23 an hour. What the council allows for an hour of agency care. The agency sends whoever is on its rota.
Hours are rounded down to the half hour. Bank holidays are charged at one and a half times a carer's rate and Christmas Day at twice, so leave room in the budget for them. Cardiff Council decides what your direct payment can be spent on, and your support plan is the final word.
Choosing your carer
Paying a self-employed carer in Cardiff
Cardiff Council allows a direct payment to pay a self-employed carer, with conditions. You do not have to be the legal employer of a micro-enterprise, as you purchase services from them, but you can only buy from a micro-enterprise featured in the Small Good Stuff Directory of community micro-enterprises. If the micro-enterprise is also a family member, certain conditions apply and you must discuss this with your social worker first.
“You can only purchase services from a micro enterprise which is featured in the Small Good Stuff Directory of community micro-enterprises.”
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 Cardiff
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: Managed account
The council can send your direct payment to Dewis CIL, which can act as your agent and take care of payments into and out of the account.
Provider: Dewis Centre for Independent Living (Direct Payment Support Service)
How the money is paid: Separate bank account
If you, a suitable person or your representative manage the direct payment without a support provider, a single dedicated bank account must be opened to receive the money, and only funds to buy care and support should go into it.
Help with running it
Dewis Centre for Independent Living (CIL), delivering the Direct Payment Support Service (DPSS). The service is free and offers advice on managing your direct payment, payroll support, help to recruit staff and to register with HMRC, and can manage the direct payment finances for you as your agent.
Where the council points you to find a personal assistant
Worth knowing
Cardiff lets you hold up to eight weeks of funding as contingency in the direct payment account, and anything above that may be reclaimed or taken off future payments.
Worth knowing
If your direct payment pays for more than 48 hours of support a week, the council expects you to employ more than one personal assistant, because it expects a maximum 48 hour working week to be contracted for each personal assistant.
Worth knowing
If you wish to use a micro-enterprise that charges more than the set rate, you will need to pay the extra costs out of your personal funds.
Who is available
Self-employed carers in Cardiff
41 carers are based within about 45 minutes of Cardiff. You can see their rates and experience, and message them, before committing to anything.
41 private carers are based within about 45 minutes of Cardiff
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 CardiffStep 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 Cardiff
Yes. You do not have to be the legal employer of a micro-enterprise, as you purchase services from them, but you can only buy from a micro-enterprise featured in the Small Good Stuff Directory of community micro-enterprises. If the micro-enterprise is also a family member, certain conditions apply and you must discuss this with your social worker first. 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.
Cardiff Council publishes £25.23 an hour for agency care for 2026/27. The full list, with links to where the council says so, is on this page. Your own budget is set in your support plan and can differ, for example if your needs include nights or two carers.
Usually it buys more hours. Carers near you typically charge £20.00 an hour against £25.23 for agency care, so a budget worked out at the agency rate buys more hours from a self-employed carer.
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.
Cardiff Council's direct payments team on 029 2240 5060. 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 Cardiff 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 Cardiff
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.