Direct paymentsStockton-on-Tees
Direct payments in Stockton-on-Tees
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. A direct payment can usually pay a self-employed carer, on the council's conditions. Below is what the council publishes about its rates and rules, and what an hour of care costs near you.
56 self-employed carers within about 45 minutes of Stockton-on-Tees
What the council pays
Direct payment rates in Stockton-on-Tees
Stockton-on-Tees Borough 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 Stockton-on-Tees
Direct payments in Stockton-on-Tees work under the Care Act 2014. A direct payment can usually pay a self-employed carer your family has chosen, as well as a personal assistant you employ or an agency. We could not find Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council's own wording on self-employed carers, so ask the direct payments team what it wants to see before anyone starts.
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 Stockton-on-Tees
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
If you manage the budget yourself, the council pays the direct payment onto a prepaid card that works like a debit card.
How the money is paid: Managed account
The council's Adult Social Care Financial Services team can hold and run a managed account for people with a self-managed personal budget.
Provider: Adult Social Care Financial Services (ASCFS)
Help with running it
Adult Social Care Financial Services (ASCFS), Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council. This council team helps people who use direct payments to recruit and employ personal assistants, run payroll, set up direct payment cards and manage accounts.
Visit Adult Social Care Financial Services (ASCFS), Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council
Worth knowing
If you ask the council to manage your budget instead of taking a direct payment, your choice of care is restricted to services the council itself provides.
Worth knowing
The council runs a Facebook group for people with self-managed budgets, their personal assistants and employers, used to share news and information.
Worth knowing
The council offers an online financial assessment tool so you can work out in advance what you may be asked to contribute towards your care.
Who is available
Self-employed carers in Stockton-on-Tees
56 carers are based within about 45 minutes of Stockton-on-Tees. You can see their rates and experience, and message them, before committing to anything.
56 private carers are based within about 45 minutes of Stockton-on-Tees
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 Stockton-on-TeesIn their words
Families near Stockton-on-Tees on the carers they chose
“I found Alison to be kind , caring helpful concencious... Alison has a heart of gold”
Roy A., 2023
About Alison G.Carer based in Middlesbrough · 2 reviews“Petty introduced herself to Mum every time she was caring for her and responded very quickly to Mum if she was distressed in the night.”
Judith W., 2026
About Petty Tutsirai C.Carer based in Newton Aycliffe“Amy even pushed me on the beach in a beach wheelchair. I managed to let small baloon off in memory of family and friends who are no longer with us.”
Roy A., 2025
About Amy S.Carer based in Trimdon StationStep 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 Stockton-on-Tees
Usually, yes. A direct payment can pay a self-employed carer your family has chosen, employ a personal assistant, or buy agency hours. We could not find Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council's own wording on self-employed carers, so ask the direct payments team what checks it wants before anyone starts.
We could not find a rate that Stockton-on-Tees Borough 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 £19.20 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 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.
Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council's direct payments team on 01642 527470 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.
Direct payments in nearby council areas
- Direct payments in Middlesbrough
- Direct payments in Hartlepool
- Direct payments in Darlington
- Direct payments in County Durham
- Direct payments in Sunderland
- Direct payments in Gateshead
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 Stockton-on-Tees that is NHS North East and North Cumbria.
Council details were read from Stockton-on-Tees Borough 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 Stockton-on-Tees
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.