Direct paymentsHaringey
Direct payments in Haringey
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. Haringey 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.
315 self-employed carers within about 45 minutes of Haringey
An hour of care in Haringey
- A self-employed carer near youTypical rate on PrimeCarers, our fee included
- £19.75
- Local home care agenciesMedian of 85 agencies nearby that publish a price
- £25.00
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 Haringey
Haringey 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 PrimeCarers12.5 hours
At £19.75 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 £25.00 an hour. The median published by 85 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. Haringey 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 Haringey
Haringey Council allows a direct payment to pay a self-employed carer, with conditions. The council allows a direct payment to be used to pay a self-employed personal assistant, but it is important to make sure HM Revenue & Customs agree that the person may be treated as self-employed and will therefore be responsible for paying their own tax and national insurance.
“It is very important to ensure that HM Revenue & Customs agree that your PA may be treated as self-employed and will therefore be responsible for paying their own tax and national insurance.”
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 Haringey
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
To receive your direct payments you must open a prepaid card account, which works like a debit card and can be used to pay for care services in person, over the internet or by telephone.
How the money is paid: Managed account
A managed payroll account can be used instead, where a support organisation receives the funds and pays wages and agency invoices, with the cost met from the direct payment.
How the money is paid: Separate bank account
A separate dedicated bank account is only agreed in exceptional cases and brings a duty to send in detailed monitoring returns.
Help with running it
Disability Action Haringey (DAH). Can give you support and advice around managing your direct payment, and access to support from peer mentors both individually and through peer support groups.
Where the council points you to find a personal assistant
Worth knowing
If you choose to employ a personal assistant, the council pays additional funds to cover the necessary employer's liability insurance and Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) checks.
Worth knowing
The council carries out a financial audit of your direct payment account at least quarterly, separately from the review you receive from a social worker, which takes place at least annually.
Worth knowing
If you employ a personal assistant, the council expects you to pay them the hourly London Living Wage.
Who is available
Self-employed carers in Haringey
315 carers are based within about 45 minutes of Haringey. You can see their rates and experience, and message them, before committing to anything.
315 private carers are based within about 45 minutes of Haringey
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 HaringeyIn their words
Families near Haringey on the carers they chose
“Monique is calm and approachable, instinctively knowing when to provide a listening ear.”
Sally L., 2025
About Monique Marie Pascale C.Carer based in London · 4 reviews“I found this "Talking Therapy" very uplifting and very therapeutic.”
Louis L., 2020
About Edward K.Carer based in London · 3 reviews“She arrived on time was very friendly and nice to chat with and really helped me getting out as I find it very difficult to motivate and go out”
Adam G., 2020
About Aminah M.Carer based in London · 3 reviews“She helped my 93 year old mother regain her confidence and independence following hospital stays.”
Mary G., 2026
About Maria Z.Carer based in London · 2 reviews“She looked after my mother to the highest standards and helped nurse her back to full health.”
Fiona K., 2022
About Sherry O.Carer · 2 reviews“She is reliable and caring, she pays attention and learns quickly... I recommend her unreservedly she is brilliant!”
Karen O., 2022
About Helen D.Carer based in LondonStep 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 Haringey
Yes. The council allows a direct payment to be used to pay a self-employed personal assistant, but it is important to make sure HM Revenue & Customs agree that the person may be treated as self-employed and will therefore be responsible for paying their own tax and national 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 Haringey 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 £19.75 an hour against £25.00 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.
Haringey Council's direct payments team on 020 8489 8456 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 Hackney
- Direct payments in Islington
- Direct payments in Camden
- Direct payments in City of London
- Direct payments in Westminster
- Direct payments in Newham
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 Haringey that is NHS West and North London.
Council details were read from Haringey 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 85 agencies near Haringey that publish a price. Carer rates are what carers near you advertise, read live.
Find a carer in Haringey
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.