Direct paymentsDundee
Direct payments in Dundee
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. Dundee City Council does not let a direct payment pay a self-employed carer, which matters for how you use it. Below is what the council publishes about its rates and rules, and what an hour of care costs near you.
13 self-employed carers within about 45 minutes of Dundee
What the council pays
Direct payment rates in Dundee
Dundee 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.
Choosing your carer
Paying a self-employed carer in Dundee
Dundee City Council does not allow a direct payment to pay a self-employed carer. Dundee Health and Social Care Partnership currently does not allow self-employed personal assistants, so with a direct payment you would need to employ a personal assistant yourself or purchase support from a service.
“You can employ a personal assistant when you choose a direct payment. Dundee Health and Social Care Partnership currently doesn’t allow self-employed personal assistants.”
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 Dundee
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 bank account that the person opens and uses only for the direct payment, with any assessed contribution held in the same separate account.
Help with running it
Dundee and Angus Direct Payments Support Service (Dundee Carers Centre). The Dundee and Angus Direct Payments Support Service provides information about direct payments.
Visit Dundee and Angus Direct Payments Support Service (Dundee Carers Centre)
Where the council points you to find a personal assistant
Worth knowing
You cannot use a direct payment to buy services from a family member without the written agreement of Dundee Health and Social Care Partnership.
Worth knowing
Timesheets or care diaries have to be sent every month to the council's direct payment financial support team.
Worth knowing
The arrangement is reviewed by the social worker six weeks after it starts and then once a year, and people must have their own emergency contingency plan.
Who is available
Self-employed carers in Dundee
13 carers are based within about 45 minutes of Dundee. You can see their rates and experience, and message them, before committing to anything.
13 private carers are based within about 45 minutes of Dundee
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 DundeeStep 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 Dundee
Not a self-employed one, going by what Dundee City Council publishes: Dundee Health and Social Care Partnership currently does not allow self-employed personal assistants, so with a direct payment you would need to employ a personal assistant yourself or purchase support from a service. Ask the direct payments team what it allows instead, because the options it offers will decide how you use the money.
We could not find a rate that Dundee 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.
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 Scotland a family member can be paid where the council, the person and the family member all agree, the family member can do the work, and one of the reasons in the regulations applies, such as a limited choice of providers locally, or support being needed at times when nobody else is available. That is the self-directed support 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.
Dundee City Council's direct payments team on 01382 434019. 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 Dundee 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. Carer rates are what carers near you advertise, read live.
Find a carer in Dundee
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.