Direct paymentsPortsmouth
Direct payments in Portsmouth
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. Portsmouth 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.
54 self-employed carers within about 45 minutes of Portsmouth
An hour of care in Portsmouth
- A self-employed carer near youTypical rate on PrimeCarers, our fee included
- £19.20
- Local home care agenciesMedian of 10 agencies nearby that publish a price
- £31.54
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 Portsmouth
Portsmouth 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.
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 PrimeCarers16 hours
At £19.20 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 agency9.5 hours
At £31.54 an hour. The median published by 10 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. Portsmouth City 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 Portsmouth
Portsmouth City Council allows a direct payment to pay a self-employed carer, with conditions. A direct payment can pay a self-employed personal assistant, but the direct payments team works through a checklist with both parties covering matters such as public liability insurance and HMRC registration, and a working agreement must be completed before work starts.
“The direct payments team will run through a checklist with the direct payment recipient and the PA to ensure they are genuinely self-employed in the work they will be doing for you.”
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 Portsmouth
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
The council's preferred method is a prepaid card account run by its contracted provider EML, paid every four weeks in advance.
Provider: EML
How the money is paid: Separate bank account
The payment can instead go into a bank or building society account opened specifically to receive the direct payment.
How the money is paid: Managed account
A managed account service can hold and administer the money for people who want a direct payment without handling the finances themselves.
Help with running it
Portsmouth PA Noticeboard (PAN). It helps people using direct payments to recruit a personal assistant, with advice on adverts, interviews, references, DBS checks, template contracts, training, payroll services and employer liability insurance.
Worth knowing
The amount allowed for employing a personal assistant starts from the National Living Wage and adds an allowance for employer on-costs.
Worth knowing
The council can make a one-off or initial payment for agreed set-up costs, such as insurance, if the assessment shows it is needed.
Worth knowing
People new to a prepaid card or managed account are audited every month for the first three months and yearly after that.
Who is available
Self-employed carers in Portsmouth
54 carers are based within about 45 minutes of Portsmouth. You can see their rates and experience, and message them, before committing to anything.
54 private carers are based within about 45 minutes of Portsmouth
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 PortsmouthIn their words
Families near Portsmouth on the carers they chose
“I cannot recommend Prisca highly enough, she is one in a million.”
Emily B., 2024
About Prisca S.Carer based in Southampton · 2 reviews“Samuel is an incredibly kind;conscientious and effective carer. My husband looks forward to his visits”
Jill O., 2025
About Olabode Samuel O.Carer based in Eastleigh · 4 reviews“She is so very kind and patient with my 92 year old mother in law.”
Andrea P., 2024
About Veronica Joan B.Carer based in Chichester · 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 Portsmouth
Yes. A direct payment can pay a self-employed personal assistant, but the direct payments team works through a checklist with both parties covering matters such as public liability insurance and HMRC registration, and a working agreement must be completed before work starts. 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 Portsmouth 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 £19.20 an hour against £31.54 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.
Portsmouth City Council's direct payments team on 02392 437896. 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 Isle of Wight
- Direct payments in Hampshire
- Direct payments in West Sussex
- Direct payments in Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole
- Direct payments in Brighton and Hove
- Direct payments in Wokingham
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 Portsmouth that is NHS Hampshire and Isle of Wight.
Council details were read from Portsmouth 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. The local agency figure is the median of 10 agencies near Portsmouth that publish a price. Carer rates are what carers near you advertise, read live.
Find a carer in Portsmouth
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.