Drawing up an employment contract for a carer or personal assistant
You’ll need to provide a written statement of employment, including the specific tasks the personal assistant should provide, place of work, working hours, pay rate, duration of employment and holiday entitlement.
Pay and tax
You must pay your personal assistant at least the minimum wage – realistically, you’re talking about £10 an hour, or closer to £12 if your care needs are more complex. You may also be responsible for deducting tax and National Insurance from their wages.
Find out more about tax and National Insurance when employing people in your home on the HM Revenue & Customs website.
Time off, sick pay and holiday pay
Not only will you have to pay, you’ll also need to find replacement cover. Your corer or personal assistant has an entitlement to:
- rest breaks
- a maximum number of working hours in any week
- holiday pay
- sick pay (in most cases)
Insurance
As an employer, you must take out Employer’s Liability Insurance and Public Liability Insurance. Your direct payments should be able to help towards the cost of this, but it will depend on your local authority.
Using a carer or personal assistant to manage your direct payments
In some cases, personal assistants can receive and manage direct payments from the council – usually on behalf of someone who lacks the mental capacity to do so themselves and usually because the person’s family has requested the arrangement.
Clearly there are risks and, in particular, vulnerable adults must be protected from fraud. Therefore, before agreeing to such an arrangement, the local authority must be satisfied that the personal assistant or carer is a ‘suitable person’ and will act in the best interests of the client.
Ask your local authority to provide written details about their process for ensuring that a personal assistant is a ‘suitable person’.