Direct paymentsEdinburgh
Direct payments in Edinburgh
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. The City of Edinburgh 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.
40 self-employed carers within about 45 minutes of Edinburgh
What the council pays
Direct payment rates in Edinburgh
The City of Edinburgh 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 Edinburgh
The City of Edinburgh Council allows a direct payment to pay a self-employed carer, with conditions. The council will make sure you get support to employ a personal assistant if you choose that option, but it says it does not recommend using self-employed personal assistants.
“You cannot usually employ any relatives to provide your care. We do not recommend you use self employed PAs.”
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 Edinburgh
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
The direct payment is normally paid onto an allpay card account, a MasterCard account set up for the money, and the council helps with the paperwork to open it.
Provider: allpay
Help with running it
The Lothian Centre for Inclusive Living (LCIL). Is funded by the council to provide independent information to people who receive direct payments.
Worth knowing
If you choose a care agency that charges more per hour than the rate the council has worked out, you may have to pay the difference yourself.
Worth knowing
The council checks how the direct payment is working about six weeks after the first payment is received.
Worth knowing
A direct payment can cover equipment and temporary adaptations, and this is normally made as a single one-off payment rather than an ongoing amount.
Who is available
Self-employed carers in Edinburgh
40 carers are based within about 45 minutes of Edinburgh. You can see their rates and experience, and message them, before committing to anything.
40 private carers are based within about 45 minutes of Edinburgh
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 EdinburghIn their words
Families near Edinburgh on the carers they chose
“No task was too much for her and she even took my mother on the dance floor in her wheelchair so that she could join in the dancing.”
Helen N., 2026
About Katarzyna M.Carer based in Edinburgh · 2 reviews“This carer is the most considerate loving and supportive person easily recognises any change in behaviour and addresses it promptly”
Janet W., 2025
About Valerie W.Carer based in Hamilton“Great compassionate person very efficient polite and respectable to my support and needs great motivator and encouraging me to do things with respect and dignity”
Janet W., 2025
About Eve Sheba C.Carer based in CumbernauldStep 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 Edinburgh
Yes. The council will make sure you get support to employ a personal assistant if you choose that option, but it says it does not recommend using self-employed personal assistants. 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 The City of Edinburgh 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 £19.20 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.
The City of Edinburgh Council's direct payments team on 0131 469 3334 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.
Council details were read from The City of Edinburgh 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 Edinburgh
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.