Direct paymentsWorcestershire
Direct payments in Worcestershire
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. Worcestershire County 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.
109 self-employed carers within about 45 minutes of Worcestershire
An hour of care in Worcestershire
- A self-employed carer near youTypical rate on PrimeCarers, our fee included
- £19.00
- Local home care agenciesMedian of 13 agencies nearby that publish a price
- £25.00
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 Worcestershire
Worcestershire 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.
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 PrimeCarers13 hours
At £19.00 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 £25.00 an hour. The median published by 13 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. Worcestershire County 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 Worcestershire
Worcestershire County 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 will need to see evidence that they are self-employed, normally a unique reference number from HMRC, and self-employed personal assistants are responsible for their own pension, tax and National Insurance and DBS costs.
“The PA is someone who doesn’t live with you and can be employed or self-employed (you will need to see evidence of PA being self-employed which is normally a unique reference number from HMRC)”
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 Worcestershire
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 sets up a pre-payment account with a card and online access, and you pay providers by card or bank transfer.
Provider: allpay
How the money is paid: Managed account
A managed account is held and run by the direct payment support service, which pays wages and tax bills while you remain the employer.
Provider: Ideal for All
Help with running it
Ideal for All (Direct Payment Support Service). The Direct Payment Support Service (Ideal for All) can help with questions such as what direct payments are and how the funding can be spent, and it can manage a managed account on your behalf.
Where the council points you to find a personal assistant
Worth knowing
A direct payment account may hold a contingency fund of up to six weeks of the weekly budget for times when your usual care is not available.
Worth knowing
The council's direct payment audit team checks a pre-payment account first within 8 to 12 weeks of it starting and then once a year.
Worth knowing
Because payments run every four weeks, a personal assistant may work up to three weeks before the first payment arrives, and that payment is backdated to the start of care.
Who is available
Self-employed carers in Worcestershire
109 carers are based within about 45 minutes of Worcestershire. You can see their rates and experience, and message them, before committing to anything.
109 private carers are based within about 45 minutes of Worcestershire
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 WorcestershireIn their words
Families near Worcestershire on the carers they chose
“I have never met a person who is so kind and thinks about others before himself to such an extent as Chris Malagala.”
Brian G., 2022
About Chris M.Carer based in Birmingham · 2 reviews“Nothing was too much trouble and Mum was never better than when Claire was looking after her.”
Glyn F., 2026
About Claire S.Carer based in Badsey · 3 reviews“She always had a good attitude even on the days when my mom wasn’t at her best.”
Bob M., 2024
About Juliette K.Carer based in Birmingham · 3 reviews“Greg absolutely amazing care worker with hardworking , positive attitude!! Glad that I have met him because he makes my life so much easier and better!!”
Elena R., 2025
About Grzegorz R.Carer based in Sandwell · 3 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 Worcestershire
Yes. A direct payment can pay a self-employed personal assistant, but you will need to see evidence that they are self-employed, normally a unique reference number from HMRC, and self-employed personal assistants are responsible for their own pension, tax and National Insurance and DBS costs. 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 Worcestershire 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.
Usually it buys more hours. Carers near you typically charge £19.00 an hour against £25.00 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.
Worcestershire County 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 Dudley
- Direct payments in Sandwell
- Direct payments in Birmingham
- Direct payments in Solihull
- Direct payments in Wolverhampton
- Direct payments in Walsall
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 Worcestershire that is NHS Herefordshire and Worcestershire.
Council details were read from Worcestershire 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 13 agencies near Worcestershire that publish a price. Carer rates are what carers near you advertise, read live.
Find a carer in Worcestershire
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.