When recruiting a personal assistant with your direct payments, it can be daunting to consider the reality that this now makes you the service user, an employer and with that comes responsibility.
With the range of employment-related topics we have covered, you should finish these resources feeling confident that you have the essential knowledge to become a thoughtful and effective employer.
Contents
- The Contract of Employment
- Before Your Personal Assistant Starts
- How to be a Good Employer
- Sorting out Problems
- Insurance
- Useful Resources
- Useful Websites
The Contract of Employment
Once you have completed the process of recruiting your personal assistant, you must now provide them with a contract of employment. This isn’t something that you are expected to create solely by yourself, there are several templates online to assist you with this. Below in the Useful Resources section, you will find we have linked to an ACAS contract template and a contract template from Skills for Care to help you get started.
Creating an employment contract will allow a point of reference for both you and your employee to ensure that you are both doing all that is expected of you.
It is important to note that if an employment contract is not provided, standard employment rights as mandated by law will apply.
Within this contract, you should outline the following:
- Start date: This can be discussed between you and your PA when you offer them the job.
- Main place of work: This will be your address.
- Job Title: Personal Assistant.
- Duties and Responsibilities: You can copy this from the job description and outline any key tasks you want them to provide for you.
- Probation period: This is typically three months and allows you time to assess whether you are satisfied with your carer. If some concerns about their performance do arise, you can voice these or if you are very dissatisfied with their performance you can dismiss them.
- Hours of work: Here you must outline which days and hours you expect your carer to be able to work. This is also where you would mention if they are required to stay over some nights.
- Salary: This is most likely to be an hourly rate due to the nature of the work as mentioned in your job description, it should be no less than the National Living Wage and should be within your direct payments budget. You should also outline here when they can expect to be paid for example monthly, fortnightly etc.
- Other topics to mention include: Lateness, sick pay, time sheets, pensions, holiday entitlement and disciplinary procedures.
Before Your Personal Assistant Starts
Once this has been signed by both you and your new employee, it is time for them to start work. If you currently have a carer or a family member assisting you, it might be a good idea to give your new carer an induction day to ensure they know exactly what is expected of them.
Skills for Care have created this useful resource going into further depth surrounding everything you need to know before your personal assistant starts.
Download Before Your PA Starts Access this file via Skills for Care
Defining the Tax Status of Your Personal Assistant
This may be a topic that you haven’t considered as an employer or you may think it is not your responsibility. However, understanding your personal assistant’s tax status is crucial as their employer to save you from encountering some sticky situations with the HRMC later down the line.
Even though you are classed as an employer, it is important to work out whether your carer is technically classed as self-employed or employed as this affects how they pay tax and whether it is your responsibility as their employer to deduct it from their wages.
How to be a Good Employer
Knowing how to be a good employer is a difficult task, especially if the concept is new to you. We have outlined some things you may want to consider before you take on this role.
- Set boundaries: Boundaries are a great way to ensure that you have a healthy working relationship. Although your carer will be in your home and you may form a close relationship, they should always remember that you are their employer. It is up to your carer to set boundaries for you as well.
- Provide training: Your carer may request some further training to make them more qualified for the tasks you need them to carry out for you. This is something you may be expected to provide, you can request funding for this through Skills for Care.
- Communication: It is vital that you communicate with your carer if there are any changes to their usual working schedule or their payday. For example, if it is a family member’s birthday and you no longer require care for that day as you will be with family, then you must let your carer know that they are not expected to work that day. If for any reason you are unable to pay them on their expected pay day you should give them as much warning as possible and let them know if they will have any problems with this.
Understanding how to be a good employer and managing your PA correctly has been outlined in these next downloadable resources by Skills for Care.
Download Managing Your PA Access this file via Skills for Care
Download Easy Read Version: Managing Your PA Access this file via Skills for Care:
We have also created our own resource, answering some frequently asked questions around the topic of becoming a good employer.
Download Surewise: Becoming a Good Employer
Managing Issues
Sometimes you may encounter problems with your carer and knowing how to handle a workplace dispute appropriately will help you keep a great working relationship.
We have described some issues you may face and how you can combat them.
- Your carer has called in sick: Carers are human too and they may need to take a sick day every once in a while. Your personal assistant is also entitled to holiday. Ensuring that you have either another carer or a family member available to assist you with your daily care needs is crucial to maintaining your routine.
- You are unhappy with your carer: You may start to feel unhappy with your carer. Some examples of this can be because they are late or perhaps they are sometimes rude to you. If these issues occur then you should have a disciplinary policy in place that they will have received as part of their contract. If you feel that you cannot sort out this matter by talking to your carer and you think their behaviour is dangerous or unlawful, you must get some legal advice. This is often provided through your insurance company, here at Surewise we are partnered with ARAG who have a 24/7 legal helpline to assist you with any queries you may have. You can reach them on: 0800 999 1220.
- Your carer is unhappy with you: In this case, you should start by letting your carer tell you why they are unhappy and see if a discussion can help ease the matter. Should your carer still be unhappy, they can acquire some third-party advice from a career advice line.
- If you are being abused: Abuse can come in many different ways and it is important to understand that your feelings are valid. If you feel this is the case, you must tell someone straight away. This could be the police, a close family member or friend, a doctor or your local social services or direct payments team.
Skills for Care has created these booklets outlining the topics we touched on above and provides further sources of information to assist you.
Download Sorting Out Problems Access this file via Skills for Care
Download: Easy Read: Sorting Out Problems Access this file via Skills for Care
Insurance for Direct Payments
Taking out a direct payments insurance policy when employing your personal assistant is a legal requirement. This is to ensure that you have employers liability cover, public liability & legal expenses. This will protect you against any claims that may arise due to you receiving care.
There are a few different insurers will offer direct payments insurance. When making your decision there are some things to look out for:
- What is the price? This may seem obvious however with tight personal budgets even making a small saving can mean that you can afford some extra hours of care.
- How many carers does it cover? Some insurance policies might charge you per carer and if you employ multiple this can start to add up and take away from hours of care you could be having.
- Are healthcare tasks covered as standard? If you require your carer to provide health care tasks then you should check whether they are covered as standard as part of your policy or if it is an additional cost.
- Do they offer resources free of charge? Much like these direct payment resources you are viewing currently, some other insurers offer a resource centre. However, it is important to check whether they ask for an additional cost to access these.
Useful Resources
Full Time & Partime Employment Contract Template
This is a template example created by ACAS to give you an idea about how to put together an employment contract.
Acas Contract of Employment Template
Skills for Care Contract of Employment Contract
Disciplinary Procedures
Understanding disciplinary procedures is vital to ensure that you are protecting yourself as the employer and following the correct protocol.
Acas Disciplinary Procedures Access this file via Acas
HMRC Starter Checklist
This is a standard checklist that most employers will require when starting a new job. It is where your employee can give you their national insurance number and payment details.
Download HMRC Starter Checklist Access this file via Gov.uk
Agreeing How We Will Work Together
This document has been created by Skills for Care to assist you with navigating being a good employer to your personal assistant. It can be used as a point of reference throughout their employment with you to help.
Download Agreeing How We Will Work Together Access this file via Skills for Care
A Guide to Whatsapp
You may already be familiar with the messaging application, Whatsapp. Now one of the most popular messaging apps on the market and known for its end-to-end encryption, meaning that not even Whatsapp can read your messages! We have linked to a guide from Skills for Care if you aren’t familiar with the service and want to start using it to communicate with your PA.
Download A Guide to Whatsapp Access this file via Skills for Care
Useful Websites
To assist you with employing a carer with your direct payments , we have compiled a list of useful websites that provide valuable guidance on key aspects of being an employer.
Right to Work Checks– Before employing a new service user it is vital to carry out ‘Right to Work Checks’. The Government outlines the documents that your employee needs to have in order to work in the Uk.
Paying Your PA– The Living Wage Foundation has a mission to encourage employers to pay their staff fairly by paying the real living wage.
Employment Advice– Acas offers employers and employees free and impartial advice with regard to workplace rules, rights and best practise.
Disclaimer
The information and files provided are intended for signposting purposes. We strive to keep them up-to-date, but it’s the user’s responsibility to double-check the latest versions and information directly on the referenced websites.
Websites used include: Skills for Care, Acas, Gov.uk.