Direct paymentsCornwall
Direct payments in Cornwall
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. Cornwall Council says a direct payment can pay a self-employed carer. Below is what the council publishes about its rates and rules, and what an hour of care costs near you.
8 self-employed carers within about 45 minutes of Cornwall
An hour of care in Cornwall
- A self-employed carer near youTypical rate on PrimeCarers, our fee included
- £20.75
- The council’s agency rateWhat the council allows for agency care, 2026/27
- £28.89
- The council’s personal assistant rateFor someone you employ yourself, 2026/27
- £16.82
A budget worked out at the agency rate buys more hours from a self-employed carer. Employing a personal assistant costs less an hour again, but makes your family the employer. What a weekly budget buys each way is set out below.
What the council pays
Direct payment rates in Cornwall
These are the rates Cornwall 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homecare agency hourly rate | £28.89 an hour | 2026/27 | cornwall.gov.uk |
| Supported Lifestyles agency day rate and waking night, hourly | £25.92 an hour | 2026/27 | cornwall.gov.uk |
| Personal Assistant day rate, hourly, inclusive of on-costs | £16.82 an hour | 2026/27 | cornwall.gov.uk |
| Personal Assistant sleeping night, hourly | £11.48 an hour | 2026/27 | cornwall.gov.uk |
| Supported Lifestyles agency sleep-in shift rate | £129.81 a night | 2026/27 | cornwall.gov.uk |
| Personal Assistant waking night, hourly | £17.67 an hour | 2026/27 | cornwall.gov.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 PrimeCarers13.5 hours
At £20.75 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 rate10 hours
At £28.89 an hour. What the council allows for an hour of agency care. The agency sends whoever is on its rota.
- A personal assistant you employ17 hours
At £16.82 an hour. The council’s rate for employing someone yourself. Your family becomes the employer, with payroll, holiday pay, pension and insurance to arrange.
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. Cornwall 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 Cornwall
Cornwall Council allows a direct payment to pay a self-employed carer. You can arrange support from an agency or a self-employed worker instead of employing your own staff, and if you do employ your own staff you will need to make arrangements to pay them.
“If you are employing your own staff (rather than using an agency or a self-employed worker) then you will need to make arrangements to pay them.”
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 Cornwall
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: Prepaid card
The council's current method is an allpay prepaid card account set up in the name of the person receiving the direct payment.
Provider: allpay
How the money is paid: Other arrangement
From 2026 the council is moving people to Kernow Wallet, a virtual wallet that pays providers and personal assistants directly.
Provider: PPL (PeoplePlacesLives)
How the money is paid: Separate bank account
A direct payment can be paid into a bank account, with statements sent to the council for review.
How the money is paid: Managed account
The council can pay your personal budget money into a managed account run by an organisation from its list, which handles the financial side of the direct payment along with record keeping and administration.
Help with running it
disAbility Cornwall (PAMAS). Is one of the organisations the council lists to support direct payments, offering payroll, managed accounts, help with recruiting personal assistants and managing an Individual Service Fund.
Worth knowing
The council pays direct payment funds into the account every four weeks in advance.
Worth knowing
If the direct payment goes into a bank account, statements must be sent to the council every three months, although a longer review period can be agreed.
Worth knowing
The council's direct payments rates include a barrier products allowance of £57.01 a year where a personal assistant is employed.
Who is available
Self-employed carers in Cornwall
8 carers are based within about 45 minutes of Cornwall. You can see their rates and experience, and message them, before committing to anything.
See the private carers who cover Cornwall
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 CornwallStep 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 Cornwall
Yes. You can arrange support from an agency or a self-employed worker instead of employing your own staff, and if you do employ your own staff you will need to make arrangements to pay them. 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.
Cornwall Council publishes £16.82 an hour for a personal assistant and £28.89 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 £20.75 an hour against £28.89 for agency care, so a budget worked out at the agency rate buys more hours from a self-employed carer. If your budget was worked out at the personal assistant rate of £16.82, it buys fewer.
In England a direct payment cannot normally pay the person’s husband, wife or partner, or a close relative who lives in the same household, unless the council considers it necessary. That is the 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.
Cornwall Council's direct payments team at [email protected]. If you do not have a social worker or care assessment yet, start with a needs assessment from adult social care.
Direct payments in nearby council areas
- Direct payments in Plymouth
- Direct payments in Devon
- Direct payments in Torbay
- Direct payments in Isles of Scilly
- Direct payments in Swansea
- Direct payments in Bridgend
If the care needed is mainly about health, the NHS may pay for all of it through Continuing Healthcare, decided by the NHS rather than the council. In Cornwall that is NHS Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly.
Council details were read from Cornwall 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 Cornwall
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.