Direct paymentsEast Riding of Yorkshire
Direct payments in East Riding of Yorkshire
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. East Riding of Yorkshire 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.
11 self-employed carers within about 45 minutes of East Riding of Yorkshire
What the council pays
Direct payment rates in East Riding of Yorkshire
East Riding of Yorkshire 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 East Riding of Yorkshire
East Riding of Yorkshire Council allows a direct payment to pay a self-employed carer. You can use a self-employed worker or a care agency instead of employing your own staff. If you 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 East Riding of Yorkshire
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: Managed account
The council can set up a Virtual Wallet online account, which includes a payroll service and lets the council check spending directly.
Provider: Virtual Wallet
How the money is paid: Prepaid card
Some people receive their direct payment into a prepaid card account.
Provider: allpay
How the money is paid: Separate bank account
A direct payment can go into a standard current account, which must be separate from your personal account and held jointly with someone who is not one of your employees.
Help with running it
Direct payment support service (the council's own direct payment support team). Direct payment support service. If you employ your own staff as part of your care and support plan, the council's direct payment support service will provide guidance on all aspects of recruiting, employing and managing them.
Visit Direct payment support service (the council's own direct payment support team)
Worth knowing
Direct payments are paid every four weeks, and the council aims to make the first payment within two weeks of the paperwork being completed.
Worth knowing
People using a Virtual Wallet account do not have to send in regular bank statements because the council can view the account itself.
Worth knowing
If you are left without cover and an emergency occurs, the council will make sure you have the support you need, usually through a care agency.
Who is available
Self-employed carers in East Riding of Yorkshire
11 carers are based within about 45 minutes of East Riding of Yorkshire. You can see their rates and experience, and message them, before committing to anything.
11 private carers are based within about 45 minutes of East Riding of Yorkshire
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 East Riding of YorkshireStep 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 East Riding of Yorkshire
Yes. You can use a self-employed worker or a care agency instead of employing your own staff. If you 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.
We could not find a rate that East Riding of Yorkshire 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 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.
East Riding of Yorkshire Council's direct payments team on 01482 396940. 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 Hull
- Direct payments in York
- Direct payments in Doncaster
- Direct payments in North Yorkshire
- Direct payments in Wakefield
- Direct payments in Leeds
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 East Riding of Yorkshire that is NHS Humber and North Yorkshire.
Council details were read from East Riding of Yorkshire 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 East Riding of Yorkshire
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.