Direct paymentsShropshire
Direct payments in Shropshire
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. Shropshire 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.
Self-employed carers who invoice you for the hours they work
What the council pays
Direct payment rates in Shropshire
These are the rates Shropshire 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Funding paid into the direct payment account for an employed personal assistant (includes provision for pension and holidays) | £14.89 an hour | 2026/27 | next.shropshire.gov.uk |
| Standard rate for a self-employed personal assistant, daytime only | £16.98 an hour | beginning 1 April 2026 | next.shropshire.gov.uk |
| Maximum standard rate for a care agency bought with a direct payment | £26.70 an hour | Not stated | next.shropshire.gov.uk |
Choosing your carer
Paying a self-employed carer in Shropshire
Shropshire Council allows a direct payment to pay a self-employed carer, with conditions. A direct payment can pay a self-employed personal assistant, but you need to check that they are self-employed and give the council their unique tax reference number and a copy of their public liability insurance. You should also check that they have business use listed on their car insurance.
“You'll need to provide us with the PA's unique tax reference number and a copy of their public liability insurance. Check that they have business use listed on their car insurance.”
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.
A direct payment is one of several ways to pay for care. Funding home care in Shropshire sets out the others, from Attendance Allowance to NHS Continuing Healthcare.
Home care in Shropshire and private carers in Shropshire show the self-employed carers near you, with their rates and reviews.
The council's arrangements
How direct payments are run in Shropshire
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 direct payment must go into a separate bank account used for nothing else, unless it is a one-off payment.
How the money is paid: Managed account
Instead of a high street bank current account you can use a Just Credit Union direct payment account, where the credit union takes responsibility for making payments and shares monitoring information with the council.
Provider: Just Credit Union
Where the council points you to find a personal assistant
Worth knowing
The council adds funding of about £8.50 a week to the direct payment so that you can pay a payroll provider of your choice.
Worth knowing
If you employ a personal assistant, the direct payment includes £67 towards employer liability insurance, which you must arrange yourself as soon as you become an employer.
Worth knowing
The Reconciliation Team checks the direct payment paperwork three months after it starts and then yearly if there are no problems.
Step 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 Shropshire
Yes. A direct payment can pay a self-employed personal assistant, but you need to check that they are self-employed and give the council their unique tax reference number and a copy of their public liability insurance. You should also check that they have business use listed on their car insurance. 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 covered by the insurance we arrange for visits booked through PrimeCarers, within its terms (no clinical procedures), and they invoice for the hours worked.
Shropshire Council publishes £16.98 an hour for a personal assistant for beginning 1 April 2026. 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.
It depends on the rate the council used to work out your budget and the rate the carer charges. Divide the weekly budget by the carer's hourly rate to see how many hours it buys.
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.
Shropshire Council's direct payments team 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 Telford and Wrekin
- Direct payments in Wolverhampton
- Direct payments in Wrexham
- Direct payments in Dudley
- Direct payments in Walsall
- Direct payments in Sandwell
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 Shropshire that is NHS Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin.
Council details were read from Shropshire 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 Shropshire
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.