Direct payments in Milton Keynes

Yes. A personal assistant can be paid as self-employed only where HMRC recognises that status, and the council warns that the person must hold their own insurance and that you could face backdated tax and national insurance if HMRC later decides they were employed by you. 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 Milton Keynes 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.

Usually it buys more hours. Carers near you typically charge £20.00 an hour against £28.50 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.

Milton Keynes City Council's direct payments team on 01908 253772 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.