Direct paymentsWest Berkshire
Direct payments in West Berkshire
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. West Berkshire 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.
36 self-employed carers within about 45 minutes of West Berkshire
An hour of care in West Berkshire
- A self-employed carer near youTypical rate on PrimeCarers, our fee included
- £21.50
- Local home care agenciesMedian of 7 agencies nearby that publish a price
- £30.26
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 West Berkshire
West Berkshire 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 PrimeCarers14 hours
At £21.50 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 agency10 hours
At £30.26 an hour. The median published by 7 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. West Berkshire 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 West Berkshire
West Berkshire Council allows a direct payment to pay a self-employed carer. The council says there are two ways of employing a personal assistant: you can either act as their employer, or use a self-employed personal assistant.
“There are two ways of employing a personal assistant. You can either act as their employer, or use a self-employed personal assistant.”
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 West Berkshire
What the council publishes about paying the money, getting help and getting in touch. Each card links to the page we checked it against.
What the scheme is called
In West Berkshire you will see it called the Epayment account.
How the money is paid: Prepaid card
The council can set you up with an Epayment account, which is an online account with a card supplied by Prepaid Financial Services, and there are no fees to use it.
Provider: Prepaid Financial Services
How the money is paid: Managed account
If you cannot deal with the financial side of a direct payment, the council will handle the financial administration through its managed account service while you keep control of the budget.
Provider: West Berkshire Council managed account service
How the money is paid: Separate bank account
You can open your own bank account, but it needs to be separate from your everyday bank account, and you will then need to send the council bank statements every month.
Where the council points you to find a personal assistant
Worth knowing
The council allows up to eight weeks of payments to be kept in your direct payment account to cover any additional costs that may be incurred.
Worth knowing
People assessed as having to pay the full cost of their care are not given a direct payment, but the direct payments team will still advise them on employing staff.
Worth knowing
If equipment bought with a direct payment is sold within five years or stops being used for the agreed purpose, the council expects the money to be returned to the direct payment account.
Who is available
Self-employed carers in West Berkshire
36 carers are based within about 45 minutes of West Berkshire. You can see their rates and experience, and message them, before committing to anything.
36 private carers are based within about 45 minutes of West Berkshire
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 West BerkshireIn their words
Families near West Berkshire on the carers they chose
“Barbara treated my mother-in-law with enormous love and compassion and provided an environment where she could feel safe and seen”
Annie G., 2024
About Barbara B.Carer based in Reading“Every time she had a cheerful greeting on arrival and treated me with respect and dignity.”
Alina F., 2024
About Natalia C.Carer based in Bracknell · 3 reviews“She has managed to form a good relationship with our 94 year old mum, who has dementia and is quite anxious, and is one of those rare warm people who will always go the extra mile.”
Claire M., 2024
About Rosalia B.Carer based in Wallingford · 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 West Berkshire
Yes. The council says there are two ways of employing a personal assistant: you can either act as their employer, or use a self-employed personal assistant. 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 West Berkshire 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 £21.50 an hour against £30.26 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.
West Berkshire Council's direct payments team on 01635 503881 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 Reading
- Direct payments in Wokingham
- Direct payments in Bracknell Forest
- Direct payments in Oxfordshire
- Direct payments in Windsor and Maidenhead
- Direct payments in Swindon
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 West Berkshire that is NHS Thames Valley.
Council details were read from West Berkshire 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 7 agencies near West Berkshire that publish a price. Carer rates are what carers near you advertise, read live.
Find a carer in West Berkshire
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.