Direct paymentsKirklees
Direct payments in Kirklees
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. Kirklees 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.
69 self-employed carers within about 45 minutes of Kirklees
An hour of care in Kirklees
- A self-employed carer near youTypical rate on PrimeCarers, our fee included
- £19.00
- The council’s agency rateWhat the council allows for agency care, 2026/2027
- £25.44
- The council’s personal assistant rateFor someone you employ yourself, 2026/2027
- £16.90
A budget worked out at the agency rate buys more hours from a self-employed carer. Employing a personal assistant costs less an hour again, but makes your family the employer. What a weekly budget buys each way is set out below.
What the council pays
Direct payment rates in Kirklees
These are the rates Kirklees Council publishes for direct payments, with a link to where each one appears. Your budget is set in your support plan and can differ from them.
| What the rate is for | Rate | Applies | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Care agency, standard direct payment rate | £25.44 an hour | 2026/2027 | kirklees.gov.uk |
| Respite care, standard direct payment rate | £109.45 a night | 2026/2027 | kirklees.gov.uk |
| Personal assistant, standard direct payment rate | £16.90 an hour | 2026/2027 | kirklees.gov.uk |
| Sleeping night, standard direct payment rate | £116.31 a night | 2026/2027 | kirklees.gov.uk |
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 PrimeCarers13 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.
- An agency, at the council’s rate9.5 hours
At £25.44 an hour. What the council allows for an hour of agency care. The agency sends whoever is on its rota.
- A personal assistant you employ15 hours
At £16.90 an hour. The council’s rate for employing someone yourself. Your family becomes the employer, with payroll, holiday pay, pension and insurance to arrange.
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. Kirklees 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 Kirklees
Kirklees Council allows a direct payment to pay a self-employed carer, with conditions. A direct payment can pay a self-employed personal assistant provided you check their HMRC self-employed registration and Unique Taxpayer Reference, see their public liability insurance certificate, agree a written contract and keep their invoices.
“Self-employed PAs must have their own public liability insurance in place. You should insist on seeing a copy of their policy certificate before they start providing support.”
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 Kirklees
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
A prepaid card that the council sets up and loads with your direct payment; it looks similar to a debit card and works in the same way, and there is no need to send the council your bank statements.
Provider: Pre-paid Financial Services
How the money is paid: Separate bank account
Payment into a high street bank account in the name of the person receiving the direct payment, kept separate from their everyday account, with statements sent in for monitoring.
How the money is paid: Managed account
A managed account, where a managed account provider pays invoices and/or personal assistant wages using the information provided to them by you and the council.
Help with running it
If you do not have a personal assistant in mind, the council can support you to advertise the role via In2Care Kirklees, which will help you create an advert, place it on their forums and send you the list of applicants and their applications.
Worth knowing
The council pays direct payments four weeks in advance, so the money is paid to you before you need to pay for support.
Worth knowing
You may keep a balance of about eight weeks of direct payment funding plus a quarter of any respite allowance, and the council can reclaim anything above that.
Worth knowing
There is an in-house Kirklees DBS team who can help you carry out checks on a personal assistant, and where appropriate the cost of the Disclosure and Barring Service check will be covered by the direct payment.
Who is available
Self-employed carers in Kirklees
69 carers are based within about 45 minutes of Kirklees. You can see their rates and experience, and message them, before committing to anything.
69 private carers are based within about 45 minutes of Kirklees
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 KirkleesIn their words
Families near Kirklees on the carers they chose
“Carla has been a god send with the implementation of bringing mum back home from respite care.”
Claire A., 2026
About Carla M.Carer based in Leeds · 3 reviews“She was quickly able to identify Margaret’s needs and preferred way of doing things and the two were soon laughing and singing together!”
Linda C., 2026
About Wendy O.Carer based in Sheffield · 2 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 Kirklees
Yes. A direct payment can pay a self-employed personal assistant provided you check their HMRC self-employed registration and Unique Taxpayer Reference, see their public liability insurance certificate, agree a written contract and keep their invoices. 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.
Kirklees Council publishes £16.90 an hour for a personal assistant and £25.44 an hour for agency care for 2026/2027. The full list, with links to where the council says so, is on this page. Your own budget is set in your support plan and can differ, for example if your needs include nights or two carers.
Usually it buys more hours. Carers near you typically charge £19.00 an hour against £25.44 for agency care, so a budget worked out at the agency rate buys more hours from a self-employed carer. If your budget was worked out at the personal assistant rate of £16.90, it buys fewer.
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.
Kirklees Council's direct payments team on 01484 222049. 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 Calderdale
- Direct payments in Bradford
- Direct payments in Leeds
- Direct payments in Wakefield
- Direct payments in Barnsley
- Direct payments in Oldham
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 Kirklees that is NHS West Yorkshire.
Council details were read from Kirklees 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 Kirklees
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.