Direct paymentsDerby
Direct payments in Derby
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. Derby City 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.
58 self-employed carers within about 45 minutes of Derby
An hour of care in Derby
- A self-employed carer near youTypical rate on PrimeCarers, our fee included
- £20.00
- Local home care agenciesMedian of 19 agencies nearby that publish a price
- £30.00
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 Derby
Derby City 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.
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 PrimeCarers15 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.
- A local home care agency10 hours
At £30.00 an hour. The median published by 19 agencies near you. 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. Derby City 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 Derby
Derby City Council allows a direct payment to pay a self-employed carer, with conditions. A direct payment can be used to pay a self-employed personal assistant, but the person must make sure all relevant legal and financial requirements are met. A self-employed personal assistant declares their own income to HMRC, so payroll is not required, and is not entitled to holiday pay, sick pay or redundancy.
“Where a person’s preference is to appoint a self-employed personal assistant, they must ensure all relevant legal and financial requirements are met.”
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 Derby
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
A prepaid card account is the council's normal way of paying a direct payment, and the card is issued by allpay, with the council able to view the account instead of asking for bank statements.
Provider: allpay Ltd
How the money is paid: Managed account
A third-party managed account provider can receive and manage the direct payment, paying agency invoices, personal assistant wages, insurance and HMRC bills, and a list of current providers can be requested from a social care worker.
How the money is paid: Separate bank account
A person can use their own designated bank account, which must only be used for the direct payment.
Where the council points you to find a personal assistant
Worth knowing
Derby lets people keep up to four weeks of funding in the direct payment account as a contingency buffer for costs such as holiday cover, national insurance and employer's liability insurance, and money held above that may be reclaimed.
Worth knowing
Where a family member is employed with the direct payment, Derby requires a third-party managed account provider and will pay that provider's fee for at least 12 months, up to at least 1 July 2027.
Worth knowing
People who receive the direct payment into their own bank account rather than a prepaid card have to send the council copies of bank statements every three months.
Who is available
Self-employed carers in Derby
58 carers are based within about 45 minutes of Derby. You can see their rates and experience, and message them, before committing to anything.
58 private carers are based within about 45 minutes of Derby
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 DerbyIn their words
Families near Derby on the carers they chose
“Ernest is an amazing professional carer who delivers care from the heart.”
Melanie B., 2024
About Ernest C.Carer based in Chesterfield“Rachel is a quietly spoken, extremely caring person and looked after Val very well.”
Raymond W., 2024
About Rachel K.Carer based in Derby“We particularly appreciate the companionship Dawn gives in the evenings when she plays cards and Scrabble with my mother.”
Sarah Y., 2022
About Dawn Z.Carer based in Burton-on-TrentStep 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 Derby
Yes. A direct payment can be used to pay a self-employed personal assistant, but the person must make sure all relevant legal and financial requirements are met. A self-employed personal assistant declares their own income to HMRC, so payroll is not required, and is not entitled to holiday pay, sick pay or redundancy. 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 Derby City 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.
Usually it buys more hours. Carers near you typically charge £20.00 an hour against £30.00 for agency care, so a budget worked out at the agency rate buys more hours from a self-employed carer.
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.
Derby City Council's direct payments team on 01332 640772 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.
Direct payments in nearby council areas
- Direct payments in Nottingham
- Direct payments in Derbyshire
- Direct payments in Nottinghamshire
- Direct payments in Staffordshire
- Direct payments in Stoke-on-Trent
- Direct payments in Walsall
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 Derby that is NHS Derby and Derbyshire.
Council details were read from Derby City 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. The local agency figure is the median of 19 agencies near Derby that publish a price. Carer rates are what carers near you advertise, read live.
Find a carer in Derby
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.