Direct paymentsSurrey
Direct payments in Surrey
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.
Self-employed carers who invoice you for the hours they work
What the council pays
Direct payment rates in Surrey
Surrey 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 Surrey
Direct payments in Surrey 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 Surrey County 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.
A direct payment is one of several ways to pay for care. Funding home care in Surrey sets out the others, from Attendance Allowance to NHS Continuing Healthcare.
Home care in Surrey and private carers in Surrey show the self-employed carers near you, with their rates and reviews.
The council's arrangements
How direct payments are run in Surrey
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 arrangement is to pay direct payments into a prepaid account, with any assessed charge already deducted.
How the money is paid: Separate bank account
You can choose to open a separate bank account instead, but you would need to fill out forms and send bank statements to the council.
How the money is paid: Managed account
A supported managed account is available for some people, with SILC helping to run the account on their behalf.
Provider: Surrey Independent Living Charity (SILC)
Help with running it
The council has commissioned Surrey Independent Living Charity (SILC) to provide independent support for its direct payments offer.
Where the council points you to find a personal assistant
Worth knowing
Prepaid accounts are checked by the council about every three months and any unspent money above two weeks' worth of funding can be taken back, after a discussion with you.
Worth knowing
The supported managed account option is open to people whose personal budget is more than £100 a week.
Worth knowing
Funding will normally be provided as a direct payment, unless the person does not want this or cannot have one for reasons stated in the legislation.
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 Surrey
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 Surrey County 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 Surrey 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 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.
Surrey County Council's direct payments team on 0300 200 1005. 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 Kingston upon Thames
- Direct payments in Sutton
- Direct payments in Richmond upon Thames
- Direct payments in Merton
- Direct payments in Hounslow
- Direct payments in Croydon
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 Surrey that is NHS Surrey and Sussex.
Council details were read from Surrey 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. The local agency figure is the median of 52 agencies near Surrey that publish a price. Carer rates are what carers near you advertise, read live.
Find a carer in Surrey
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.