Direct payments and employing a Personal Assistant: from first conversation to running it

Step by step

1. What are direct payments?

   Direct payments are cash payments from social care or education budgets that let you arrange your own support. Parents or carers of disabled children, or disabled young people aged 16–17, can request a direct payment instead of council-arranged services. The money must be used to meet the outcomes in your child's education, health and care plan (EHCP) or social care assessment.

2. Getting a personal budget and direct payment

   Talk to your social worker or SEND case officer about a personal budget. If the local authority agrees, you'll get a written decision explaining the amount and purpose. In West Northamptonshire the Personal Budget Support Service (PBSS) helps families manage payments; the team offers payroll services and helps recruit personal assistants. North Northamptonshire Council also provides advice and can refer you to their Personal Budget Support Service when using direct payments to employ a PA.

3. Recruiting a Personal Assistant (PA)

   Decide what tasks you need support with, such as personal care, community access, or help with homework, and write a job description. There's no dedicated PA register for Northamptonshire, so there isn't a ready pool of PAs to browse. To advertise, use your council's own PA jobs board: West Northamptonshire Council's "Personal assistant job vacancies" page (which has a specific section for young people's care roles), or North Northamptonshire Council's equivalent page. Your Personal Budget Support Service (PBSS) can also actively help you recruit, including shortlisting, interviewing, and arranging DBS and reference checks, not just payroll. If the direct payment is for a disabled child, this support comes from the West Northamptonshire-based PBSS whichever council area you live in, because Northamptonshire Children's Trust runs children's social care across the whole county through that one team. Call PBSS on 0300 126 3200. Some families find a PA privately instead, through word of mouth, a school teaching assistant, or a voluntary group leader the child already knows, or through a commercial care agency. If you use an agency, the agency becomes the legal employer, not you. There's no set minimum age in UK law for someone to be a PA. In practice, nobody under 16 can be given a DBS check, so your PA needs to be at least 16 to get the enhanced DBS check (with a children's barred list check) that personal care for a disabled child will almost always need. A 17-year-old can lawfully work as a PA, but extra rules apply: as a "young worker" under UK employment law, they can't be rostered for planned overnight or waking-night shifts the way an adult can, and they must be paid the "Under 18" National Minimum Wage rate, not the adult rate. Always check current local policy with your PBSS or social worker before advertising, especially if you need overnight cover. Once you have a shortlist, take up references, hold interviews, and arrange the enhanced DBS check before anyone starts.

4. Employing and managing your PA

   As an employer you must provide a contract, pay wages and holiday pay, operate payroll and pension contributions, and take out employer's liability insurance. The PBSS can run payroll and managed accounts for you. Keep receipts and records of how you spend the direct payment and review your support regularly with the council.