Direct paymentsHighland
Direct payments in Highland
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 Highland 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.
10 self-employed carers within about 45 minutes of Highland
What the council pays
Direct payment rates in Highland
The Highland 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 Highland
The Highland Council allows a direct payment to pay a self-employed carer, with conditions. A direct payment can be used to buy care from a self-employed carer or personal assistant, but you must check that the person is registered with HMRC for income tax and national insurance, has appropriate insurance cover and has completed suitable training, and all services must be invoiced with receipts obtained.
“It is important to ensure that when these services are purchased using a Direct Payment, the purchaser verifies that the person is registered with HMRC for income tax and national insurance and has appropriate insurance cover.”
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 Highland
What the council publishes about paying the money, getting help and getting in touch. Each card links to the page we checked it against.
What the scheme is called
In Highland you will see it called the Highland payment card.
How the money is paid: Prepaid card
NHS Highland pays the direct payment onto a prepaid payment card account that its self-directed support officers open on the person's behalf.
Provider: EML
Help with running it
Community Contacts, managed by Carr Gomm. Community Contacts, which is funded by the Scottish Government's Support in the Right Direction initiative and managed by Carr Gomm, operates in Highland and aims to help people design and manage their own support in a confident and informed way.
Where the council points you to find a personal assistant
Worth knowing
NHS Highland and Highland Council may award start-up funding of £300 to people receiving a direct payment who wish to employ their own carers or personal assistants, to help with costs such as advertising, contracts of employment, insurance, PVGs and training.
Worth knowing
The direct payment is normally paid onto the card account every four weeks in advance, although a one-off payment can be awarded in some cases.
Worth knowing
A direct payment cannot be used to employ or buy care or support from a relative, although in exceptional circumstances a senior NHS Highland or Highland Council manager may agree this in writing, and permission is never granted where the relative is the person's guardian or attorney.
Who is available
Self-employed carers in Highland
10 carers are based within about 45 minutes of Highland. You can see their rates and experience, and message them, before committing to anything.
10 private carers are based within about 45 minutes of Highland
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 HighlandStep 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 Highland
Yes. A direct payment can be used to buy care from a self-employed carer or personal assistant, but you must check that the person is registered with HMRC for income tax and national insurance, has appropriate insurance cover and has completed suitable training, and all services must be invoiced with receipts obtained. 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 Highland 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 £20.00 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 Highland Council's direct payments team 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 Highland 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 Highland
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.