Direct paymentsDarlington
Direct payments in Darlington
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. Darlington 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.
36 self-employed carers within about 45 minutes of Darlington
What the council pays
Direct payment rates in Darlington
Darlington 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 Darlington
Darlington Borough Council allows a direct payment to pay a self-employed carer, with conditions. If you engage someone who says they are self-employed, a check should be obtained about that person's status with HM Revenue and Customs, and the council provides support and funding for criminal records checks for every worker employed.
“If engaging someone to provide services who states that he/she is ‘self- employed’ a check should be obtained about that person’s status with HM Revenue and Customs”
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 Darlington
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
The direct payment is paid into a separate bank or building society account in the name of the person or their nominated or suitable person, every four weeks.
How the money is paid: Managed account
The direct payments support service can hold and manage the money for you through a managed account.
Provider: Darlington Association on Disability
Help with running it
Darlington Association on Disability Direct Payments Support Service. The Darlington Association on Disability direct payments support service is currently free of charge to those with a direct payment, and can receive and manage the money using a managed account, help you buy support services, recruit and manage staff, complete a payroll, and keep records and make returns to adult social care.
Visit Darlington Association on Disability Direct Payments Support Service
Where the council points you to find a personal assistant
Worth knowing
Payments cannot start before the date the direct payment agreement is signed, because the council will not backdate them.
Worth knowing
Money that builds up in the account is called the contingency fund and covers tax and national insurance, holiday, sick pay, redundancy and saved hours, and the council may seek to recover any unused contingency that is not needed, or funds greater than the equivalent of eight weeks of service, whichever is the greater.
Worth knowing
A direct payment cannot be used to pay a partner or close relative who lives in the same household unless the council agrees in writing, and any such agreement is reviewed each year.
Who is available
Self-employed carers in Darlington
36 carers are based within about 45 minutes of Darlington. You can see their rates and experience, and message them, before committing to anything.
36 private carers are based within about 45 minutes of Darlington
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 DarlingtonIn their words
Families near Darlington on the carers they chose
“Petty introduced herself to Mum every time she was caring for her and responded very quickly to Mum if she was distressed in the night.”
Judith W., 2026
About Petty Tutsirai C.Carer based in Newton Aycliffe“Amy even pushed me on the beach in a beach wheelchair. I managed to let small baloon off in memory of family and friends who are no longer with us.”
Roy A., 2025
About Amy S.Carer based in Trimdon StationStep 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 Darlington
Yes. If you engage someone who says they are self-employed, a check should be obtained about that person's status with HM Revenue and Customs, and the council provides support and funding for criminal records checks for every worker employed. 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 Darlington 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 £20.00 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 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.
Darlington Borough Council's direct payments team on 01325 360524. 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 Stockton-on-Tees
- Direct payments in Middlesbrough
- Direct payments in County Durham
- Direct payments in Hartlepool
- Direct payments in Sunderland
- Direct payments in Gateshead
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 Darlington that is NHS North East and North Cumbria.
Council details were read from Darlington 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 Darlington
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.