Direct paymentsGloucestershire
Direct payments in Gloucestershire
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. Gloucestershire County 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.
27 self-employed carers within about 45 minutes of Gloucestershire
What the council pays
Direct payment rates in Gloucestershire
Gloucestershire County 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 Gloucestershire
Gloucestershire County Council allows a direct payment to pay a self-employed carer, with conditions. You can use a direct payment to pay someone who is self employed, but you must check very carefully that they are self employed in HMRC's terms, using the HMRC website or a decision from HMRC if you are unsure, ask them to put their self employed unique tax number on their invoices, and ask to see a copy of their public liability insurance.
“If you use someone who is self employed, it is important to check very carefully that they are genuinely self employed.”
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 Gloucestershire
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 council sets up a payment card account for the person responsible for managing the direct payment, and where a financial assessment says the adult must contribute, they pay the assessed amount into that account at no less than four weekly intervals before the council adds its contribution.
How the money is paid: Managed account
Where someone cannot manage a payment card account, the council may instead require the direct payment to run through a managed account.
Worth knowing
The first payment on an ongoing direct payment is worth eight weeks of funding, to cover setting up and to leave a small reserve for emergencies such as paying cover when a personal assistant is ill.
Worth knowing
If you employ a personal assistant you will need employers' liability insurance, and the council provides funding for this.
Worth knowing
You choose your own support provider by searching online for payroll providers that offer the services you need, and your direct payment specialist can give guidance if required.
Who is available
Self-employed carers in Gloucestershire
27 carers are based within about 45 minutes of Gloucestershire. You can see their rates and experience, and message them, before committing to anything.
27 private carers are based within about 45 minutes of Gloucestershire
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 GloucestershireIn their words
Families near Gloucestershire on the carers they chose
“Nothing is too much trouble and all my Mother's personal requirements are met with dignity”
Anne H., 2024
About Sadie R.Carer based in Gloucester · 8 reviews“Andrea not only managed to keep him safe, but also gave him great company, took him out for walks on his electric wheelchair, made him laugh”
Margrit P., 2025
About Andrea M.Carer based in Cheltenham · 3 reviewsStep 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 Gloucestershire
Yes. You can use a direct payment to pay someone who is self employed, but you must check very carefully that they are self employed in HMRC's terms, using the HMRC website or a decision from HMRC if you are unsure, ask them to put their self employed unique tax number on their invoices, and ask to see a copy of their 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 Gloucestershire 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. Carers near you typically charge £20.50 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.
Gloucestershire County Council's direct payments team on 01452 427614 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.
Direct payments in nearby council areas
- Direct payments in Herefordshire
- Direct payments in South Gloucestershire
- Direct payments in Swindon
- Direct payments in Bristol
- Direct payments in Worcestershire
- Direct payments in Monmouthshire
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 Gloucestershire that is NHS Gloucestershire.
Council details were read from Gloucestershire County 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 Gloucestershire
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.