Direct paymentsGateshead
Direct payments in Gateshead
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. Gateshead 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.
59 self-employed carers within about 45 minutes of Gateshead
An hour of care in Gateshead
- A self-employed carer near youTypical rate on PrimeCarers, our fee included
- £19.00
- Local home care agenciesMedian of 6 agencies nearby that publish a price
- £22.68
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 Gateshead
Gateshead 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 PrimeCarers11.5 hours
At £19.00 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 £22.68 an hour. The median published by 6 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. Gateshead 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 Gateshead
Gateshead Council allows a direct payment to pay a self-employed carer, with conditions. You may use a direct payment to pay a self-employed personal assistant, but you must check their right to work in the UK, give the direct payment team the HMRC letter showing their Unique Taxpayer Reference and check that they hold their own public liability insurance.
“You are able to use a self-employed personal care assistant. If you choose to do so, it is your responsibility to:”
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 Gateshead
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 paid monthly into a prepaid online account that the direct payment team opens for you, and the amount paid in is net of any assessed contribution.
How the money is paid: Managed account
If you would rather not handle the money, the prepaid card account stays in your name but the direct payment team manages the finances and makes payments for you, and you do not receive a card.
Help with running it
Gateshead Council direct payment support service. The council has a direct payment support service that can discuss whether a direct payment is right for you, help with the required paperwork, act as your payroll provider for wages, tax, National Insurance and pensions, and support you with recruitment.
Where the council points you to find a personal assistant
Worth knowing
If you buy care from an agency that charges more per hour than the amount agreed in your direct payment, you have to pay the shortfall yourself.
Worth knowing
The council carries out a first review of the direct payment 12 weeks after it has been set up.
Worth knowing
The prepaid card account is checked monthly, and if unspent money builds up the team audits the account, refunds any overpaid contribution and recovers any overpaid council money from the card.
Who is available
Self-employed carers in Gateshead
59 carers are based within about 45 minutes of Gateshead. You can see their rates and experience, and message them, before committing to anything.
59 private carers are based within about 45 minutes of Gateshead
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 GatesheadIn their words
Families near Gateshead on the carers they chose
“Petty introduced herself to Mum every time she was caring for her and responded very quickly to Mum if she was distressed in the night.”
Judith W., 2026
About Petty Tutsirai C.Carer based in Newton Aycliffe“Amy even pushed me on the beach in a beach wheelchair. I managed to let small baloon off in memory of family and friends who are no longer with us.”
Roy A., 2025
About Amy S.Carer based in Trimdon StationStep 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 Gateshead
Yes. You may use a direct payment to pay a self-employed personal assistant, but you must check their right to work in the UK, give the direct payment team the HMRC letter showing their Unique Taxpayer Reference and check that they hold their own public liability insurance. 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 Gateshead 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 £19.00 an hour against £22.68 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.
Gateshead Council's direct payments team on 0191 433 2331. 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 Newcastle upon Tyne
- Direct payments in South Tyneside
- Direct payments in Sunderland
- Direct payments in County Durham
- Direct payments in Northumberland
- Direct payments in Hartlepool
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 Gateshead that is NHS North East and North Cumbria.
Council details were read from Gateshead 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 6 agencies near Gateshead that publish a price. Carer rates are what carers near you advertise, read live.
Find a carer in Gateshead
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.