Direct payments in East Sussex

Yes. Before a personal assistant starts work, you must check whether they need to be employed or self-employed, so self-employment is possible but the employment status has to be checked first. 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 Sussex County 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 to work out your budget and the rate the carer charges. Divide the weekly budget by the carer's hourly rate to see how many hours it buys.

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.

Start with East Sussex County Council's adult social care team, whose direct payments page has the current details. If you do not have a care assessment yet, ask for a needs assessment first.