Direct paymentsCarmarthenshire
Direct payments in Carmarthenshire
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. Carmarthenshire County 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.
10 self-employed carers within about 45 minutes of Carmarthenshire
What the council pays
Direct payment rates in Carmarthenshire
Carmarthenshire County 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 Carmarthenshire
Carmarthenshire County Council allows a direct payment to pay a self-employed carer, with conditions. If you are considering a self-employed personal assistant arrangement, it is your responsibility to complete the HMRC Check Employment Status for Tax (CEST) tool, which determines the worker's employment status.
“If an individual is considering a self-employed personal assistant arrangement, then it is their responsibility to complete the HMRC Check Employment Status for Tax (CEST) tool which will determine the workers’ employment status.”
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 Carmarthenshire
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
If your account is not managed for you, you will need a separate current account, which is referred to as your direct payment account.
How the money is paid: Managed account
Where someone needs support to manage their personal finances, or cannot open a separate current account, the council can consider a managed account.
Provider: Carmarthenshire County Council
Help with running it
Direct Payments support service (Carmarthenshire County Council in-house). The Direct Payments support service is provided by Carmarthenshire County Council, and an adviser can offer advice and support with managing your direct payment and help you with recruiting and managing staff.
Visit Direct Payments support service (Carmarthenshire County Council in-house)
Where the council points you to find a personal assistant
Worth knowing
The council would not normally allow individuals to build up a surplus of more than 6 weeks' worth of direct payments.
Worth knowing
Direct payments continue for a period of 4 weeks while the person receiving them is outside of the United Kingdom.
Worth knowing
A payment will be made to cover start-up costs, with full details of the levels of payment given in Appendix 1 of the policy.
Who is available
Self-employed carers in Carmarthenshire
10 carers are based within about 45 minutes of Carmarthenshire. You can see their rates and experience, and message them, before committing to anything.
10 private carers are based within about 45 minutes of Carmarthenshire
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 CarmarthenshireStep 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 Carmarthenshire
Yes. If you are considering a self-employed personal assistant arrangement, it is your responsibility to complete the HMRC Check Employment Status for Tax (CEST) tool, which determines the worker's employment status. 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 Carmarthenshire County 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 £19.10 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.
Carmarthenshire County Council's direct payments team on 01267 242324 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 Carmarthenshire County 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 Carmarthenshire
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.