Getting the support you need Employing a personal assistant Once you ve found the person you want to provide the support you need, you can use direct payments, a personal health budget (PHB) or your own funds to employ them. For more information see SILC Fast Facts 4 (Recruiting a personal assistant). How do I employ someone? Don t worry, SILC can help you every step of the way. It can be daunting if you ve never employed someone before but some simple rules will ensure that you don t slip up or leave yourself vulnerable. For more information see SILC Fast Facts 12 (Becoming an employer). 1. 2. Write a job description Before you recruit a personal assistant (PA), you should have written down exactly what you want them to do. This is the basis of the job description that you give the person when you take them on; SILC can help you with this. Agree working hours You can t ask someone to work more than the Working Time Regulations limit of 48 hours per week, though someone can choose to work more than this; SILC can help you with planning how many hours each of your PAs will work. FAST FACTS 5 3. Agree rates of pay You must not pay someone less per hour, before tax, than the National Living Wage (or National Minimum Wage if they re under 25). We recommend that personal assistants are paid much more than this minimum rate; SILC can help you organise this. If you have a direct payment or a PHB, your support plan should state what hourly rate of pay Surrey County Council or the NHS has agreed within your package.
4. Take out insurance As an employer it s a legal requirement that you have an Employers Liability insurance policy to protect your personal assistant in case they become injured in the course of their work. If you have a direct payment or PHB, the cost of this policy should be covered in your package; SILC can help you organise this. 5. Prepare employment particulars You must give your personal assistant a statement of employment particulars (outlining working hours, rates of pay, holiday and sickness entitlements and so on) no later than eight weeks after starting work; SILC can help you with this. Should my personal assistant fill in time sheets? If your PA works the same days and hours each week, they don t need to fill in a time sheet. If your PA works flexibly, however, you should ask them to complete a time sheet showing all the hours they work (preferably on a weekly basis), get them to sign it and sign it yourself. Keep a copy of the time sheets in case of dispute. Do I have to give my personal assistant holiday pay? All personal assistants are entitled to a minimum of 5.6 weeks paid holiday (including public holidays). This is based on working a 5 day week so is equivalent to 28 working days. If your personal assistants are part-time workers, they are still entitled to 5.6 weeks holiday pro rata, i.e. 5.6 of their normal working week. For example, if they work two days a week, they would be entitled to 11.2 days annual leave a year (as two days x 5.6 weeks = 11.2 days). If they work casual or irregular hours it may well be easiest to calculate their holiday entitlement as hours worked. The holiday entitlement of 5.6 weeks is equivalent to 12.07% of the hours worked which means a holiday entitlement of just over seven minutes for each hour worked. For example, if your personal assistant had worked 10 hours, they would be entitled to 72.6 minutes paid holiday.
Do I have to provide sick pay and maternity pay? Your personal assistants may be entitled to Statutory Sick Pay or Statutory Maternity Pay; SILC can advise what is necessary. What happens when I need someone to cover for my personal assistant? Money for contingency cover should be included in your direct payments or PHB; SILC can help you think about options for arranging contingency cover. Do I have to sort out my personal assistant s Income Tax and National Insurance? You must pay HM Revenue & Customs any Income Tax, employee National Insurance and employer s National Insurance contributions due. You will need to hold these amounts back from gross pay and send them to HMRC on a quarterly basis (when they invoice you). The cost of Tax and National Insurance contributions are included in your direct payments or PHB and SILC can help you budget to cover these. Can I use a payroll service to pay my personal assistant? Money to pay a payroll service should be included in your direct payments or PHB. SILC can put you in touch with a payroll company. You will need to provide detail of hours worked and pay rates. Can I run my own payroll? Yes, if you d like to. We ll help you with details of how to get started.
What happens if my personal assistant becomes pregnant? Pregnant personal assistants have special legal rights and you cannot refuse someone a job or dismiss her just because she is pregnant; contact SILC for advice. What happens if my personal assistant has a disability or becomes disabled? Disabled personal assistants have special legal rights. If you have reason to believe that one of your personal assistants is or has become disabled, contact SILC for advice. What happens if I need to sack a personal assistant? If you are faced with a potential grievance, disciplinary or redundancy situation, contact SILC for advice before taking any action. If you wish to end someone s term of employment, it s essential to follow the correct procedure; you could otherwise be breaking the law. What about health and safety? You have a legal responsibility to make sure that your personal assistant remains safe and healthy whilst doing their job. This means you must carry out some risk assessments on your home. Other things you need to do include: think about any training your personal assistant needs, tell your personal assistant about health and safety, record (and possibly report) any accidents that take place in your home, take out Employers Liability insurance. For more information see SILC Fast Facts 1 (Understanding direct payments).
Can my personal assistant be self employed? It s extremely unlikely. If your personal assistant wishes to be regarded as self-employed, they should give you written authority from HMRC, otherwise they must be directly employed by you. For more information see SILC Fast Facts 8 (Self employed personal assistants). Can I pay my personal assistant cash? No, it s against Surrey County Council and NHS policy to do so. If this presents a problem, contact SILC for advice. Keeping financial records SILC can help you with the financial side of managing direct payments and PHBs and, where we need to charge for these services, these costs should be covered by Surrey County Council or the NHS. If you decide to use direct payments or PHBs you must keep proper records of all the payments you make, so keep all receipts, invoices, etc, safe. You should make all payments from your direct payments or PHB account by cheque, standing order, direct debit or electronic transfer (for example, internet banking or telephone banking), not cash. Every three months you will need to give Surrey County Council or the NHS a report of financial transactions on your direct payment or PHB account unless you use a prepaid account. SILC can help you with this. For more information see SILC Fast Facts 1 (Understanding direct payments).
Do I need to keep any paperwork about my personal assistants? Keeping staff records: the legal requirements To comply with the law, you should keep certain records relating to the employment of your personal assistants for a period of six years. These include: hours worked and workers who have agreed to work more than 48 hours per week - to meet the requirements of the law on working time, pay rates - to meet the statutory requirements to issue workers with pay statements and to ensure you are paying your workers at least the National Living Wage (or National Minimum Wage if they re under 25), information on Income Tax and National Insurance deductions for HM Revenue & Customs, sickness of more than four days and how much statutory sick pay you have paid, accidents, injuries and dangerous occurrences to meet health and safety requirements. If you use a payroll service this information should be available as part of the records they keep on your behalf. You should also keep records of each worker s: personal details name, address, emergency phone number(s), qualifications, work-relevant disability, terms and conditions of employment including a copy of each employee s contract and any written correspondence relating to changes to their terms and conditions, employment history date employment began, training, appraisals and so on, any disciplinary action you have ever taken, in particular disciplinary hearings, absence records of lateness, sickness and any other authorised or unauthorised absences. For further information and advice about record keeping, contact the SILC office. If you would like this information in large print, on audio CD, in Braille or another format, please contact us. SILC is a voluntary organisation led and run by disabled people. To find out more about us, call 01483 458 111, text 07919 418 099, email admin@surreyilc.org.uk or look on our website www.surreyilc.org.uk Surrey Independent Living Council Charity Registration No. 1146482 VAT Registration No. 733 3702 52 A company limited by guarantee Registered in England and Wales Company No. 7877608 Registered Office Astolat, Coniers Way, Burpham, Guildford, GU4 7HL Fast Fact 05 - v4