Direct paymentsHull
Direct payments in Hull
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. Hull City 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.
13 self-employed carers within about 45 minutes of Hull
What the council pays
Direct payment rates in Hull
Hull City 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 Hull
Hull City Council allows a direct payment to pay a self-employed carer, with conditions. If the person you choose to provide your care says they are self-employed, you should ask them to check their status with HM Revenue and Customs, and if confirmed as self-employed they must be registered with HMRC and have appropriate liability insurance, with a copy given to the direct payments team.
“If they are confirmed as being self-employed, they must be registered with HM Revenue and Customs and have the appropriate liability 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 Hull
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: Separate bank account
The personal budget is paid every four weeks into a separate bank account that the person opens for the direct payment, and monthly statements are needed for the audit.
How the money is paid: Managed account
If you do not have a nominated person who can manage your direct payment account on your behalf, you can opt to use a broker.
Help with running it
Choices and Rights Disability Coalition. Choices and Rights is an organisation independent from Hull City Council that can support you with recruiting and employing a personal assistant, helping you complete the employment forms and advising you about keeping accounts.
Worth knowing
As well as the money for care hours, you will usually receive some extra money, about 18 per cent, for on-costs.
Worth knowing
The council's Income and Payments Team asks for the direct payment records once a year so that an audit can be carried out.
Worth knowing
The council may reclaim money if the direct payment account holds more than twelve weeks' worth of care funding.
Who is available
Self-employed carers in Hull
13 carers are based within about 45 minutes of Hull. You can see their rates and experience, and message them, before committing to anything.
13 private carers are based within about 45 minutes of Hull
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 HullIn their words
Families near Hull on the carers they chose
“Elizabeth was a ray of sunshine coming into our lives, always positive and very gentle but persuasive when Dad could be difficult”
Christina K., 2024
About Elizabeth a.Carer based in Hull“She treated him with the utmost dignity and respect during his most vulnerable moments.”
Kieran W., 2026
About Kirsty W.Carer based in HullStep 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 Hull
Yes. If the person you choose to provide your care says they are self-employed, you should ask them to check their status with HM Revenue and Customs, and if confirmed as self-employed they must be registered with HMRC and have appropriate liability insurance, with a copy given to the direct payments team. 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 Hull City 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 £19.55 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.
Hull City Council's direct payments team on 01482 614 530 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 East Riding of Yorkshire
- Direct payments in York
- Direct payments in Doncaster
- Direct payments in North Yorkshire
- Direct payments in Wakefield
- Direct payments in Lincolnshire
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 Hull that is NHS Humber and North Yorkshire.
Council details were read from Hull City 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 Hull
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.