Direct paymentsPowys
Direct payments in Powys
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. Powys County Council says a direct payment can pay a self-employed carer. Below is what the council publishes about its rates and rules, and what an hour of care costs near you.
14 self-employed carers within about 45 minutes of Powys
What the council pays
Direct payment rates in Powys
Powys County 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 Powys
Powys County Council allows a direct payment to pay a self-employed carer. You do not have to employ a personal assistant: depending on your circumstances you may employ your own personal assistant, use a self-employed personal assistant, or arrange support from a registered care agency. Your social worker and the Direct Payments Team will help you choose the arrangement that best meets your needs.
“No. Depending on your circumstances, you may choose to employ a Personal Assistant, use a self-employed Personal Assistant or purchase support from a registered care agency.”
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 Powys
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: Managed account
Once the direct payment is approved the council refers you to its commissioned managed account and payroll provider, which sets up the account, and timesheets are then submitted and approved online before payment.
Provider: Virtual Wallet
Help with running it
Virtual Wallet, the council's commissioned managed account and payroll provider. Once your direct payment is approved you are referred to the council's commissioned managed account and payroll provider, and if you use Virtual Wallet there is a support line on 03300 582 692 and a payroll team for employers on 03300 586 711. You can also visit www.myvirtualwallet.co.uk/Powys for an introduction and further guidance.
Visit Virtual Wallet, the council's commissioned managed account and payroll provider
Where the council points you to find a personal assistant
Worth knowing
A direct payment cannot be used to pay a personal assistant who lives in the same household as the person receiving the care.
Worth knowing
Before the money starts, the social worker has to put the direct payment request to the council's Care Practice Forum for approval.
Worth knowing
If a Suitable Person is appointed to manage the direct payment on your behalf, they may be required to complete a DBS check before the direct payment can be approved.
Who is available
Self-employed carers in Powys
14 carers are based within about 45 minutes of Powys. You can see their rates and experience, and message them, before committing to anything.
14 private carers are based within about 45 minutes of Powys
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 PowysStep 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 Powys
Yes. You do not have to employ a personal assistant: depending on your circumstances you may employ your own personal assistant, use a self-employed personal assistant, or arrange support from a registered care agency. Your social worker and the Direct Payments Team will help you choose the arrangement that best meets your needs. 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 Powys County 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 Wales the council can allow a direct payment to pay a relative who lives in the same household where it considers that necessary to promote the person’s well-being. Where it does not, it has to rule the payment out. That is the Welsh 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.
Powys County Council's direct payments team on 01597 827100 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.
Council details were read from Powys County 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 Powys
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.