People who employ their own support should have the power to shape how they’re supported in leading a full and meaningful life. This begins with the recruitment of the right personal assistant to meet their unique needs.
Being prepared before a personal assistant begins their employment also means that they will be able to get going with the important part of their role knowing that their rights as an employee have been taken care of.
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A ‘contract of employment’, between you and your employees must be in place to ensure each other’s responsibilities are clear. It provides details of employment rights, responsibilities and duties - these are called the ‘terms’ of the contract.
Send two signed copies of the contract of employment to your new personal assistant and ask them to sign both - one for you and one for your PA. This must be completed within two months of taking on a new employee.
Resources
Probationary period
This time allows you to get to know your new personal assistant, and allows them to think about whether they are suited to the job.
Set a probationary period that is suitable for you, for example, three months.
Setting aside time with your personal assistant during the probationary period can help you estabilsh what is working well or not going so well and discuss any training needs.
As the probationary period comes to a close, you should confirm the following
- You would like your employee to continue their role
- You would like to extend the probationary period
- You want to end their employment.
Notice period for both of you
If your personal assistant wants to stop working for you or you decide that you do not want your personal assistant to work for you anymore
The ‘notice period’ is the amount of time your personal assistant must work once they've handed in their notice or once you've told them you would like to terminate employment.
Ensure the notice period gives you enough time to employ another personal assistant replacement.
If your personal assistant has worked for you for less than one month, no notice period is required.
If they've worked for you for over one month but less than two years, the minimum legal notice period must be at least one week (you can agree on a longer period of time if you want).
If they have worked for you for two years or more, the legal minimum notice period is one week for each full year of service, up to 12 weeks).
The notice period can be different during the probationary period, and in cases of dismissal for gross misconduct or gross negligence, notice is not paid.
Salary and when it will be paid
Communicate how much your personal assistant will be paid, when you will pay them (for example, weekly or monthly) and how you will pay them (for example, BACS or cheque).
Employers have a legal responsibility to deduct National Insurance and income tax.
Working time, hours and breaks
Communicate working hours required and processes to follow if your personal assistant is going to be late or is unable to turn up for work.
Personal assistants should not be asked to work more than 48 hours per week, unless they have given their voluntary consent to ‘opt-out’ in writing. An employee can cancel the opt-out agreement at any time by giving seven days notice.
Entitled rest periods:
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minimum of 11 consecutive hours rest in any 24-hour period
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minimum 20 minute rest break if their working day is longer than six hours
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one day off every seven days
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a limit on the normal working hours of night workers to an average eight hours in any 24-hour period, and an entitlement for night workers to receive regular health assessments.
For those under 18 the maximum working week is 40 hours, other than in exceptional circumstances. These hours may not be averaged out and there is no opt-out available. If you employ someone in this age group, you must also give them a break of 30 minutes every four and a half hours worked.
You must also allow ‘reasonable’ paid time off to your personal assistants for things such as attending antenatal appointments or training.
In some situations, you must allow your personal assistant unpaid time off, for example, for family emergencies and time to perform public duties, such as jury service or acting as a school governor.
If your personal assistant asks to work flexibly, you have a legal responsibility to consider this request regardless of how long they've worked for you. You can refuse these requests on reasonable grounds. If you agree to any changes, you should update the contract of employment. Two statutory requests can be made in any 12 month period.
Holiday entitlement
Communicate holiday entitlement per year including holiday year starts and end, for example, 1 January – 31 December.
Be clear about how bank holidays will be treated and the process for agreeing time off.
Most full-time workers are legally entitled to a minimum of 5.6 weeks paid holiday per year – you can choose to offer more. The statutory paid holiday entitlement is capped at 28 days. If your personal assistant works part-time in a flexible pattern, or works irregular hours, it might be easier to calculate their holiday allowance in hours rather than days. This online calculator can help you to work this out.
Holiday pay
Holiday pay must be based on the worker’s average pay. So, if their normal pay includes extra money for working unsociable hours, so must the holiday pay.
If someone stops working for you, they are entitled to be paid for any holiday that they are due but have not taken.
Resources and further information
Bank and public holidays
You can count any days off for public or bank holidays towards your personal assistant's statutory holiday entitlement – but only as long as if you pay them for those days off. You do not have to give your personal assistant paid time off for bank and public holidays, but you need to be clear about this in their contract of employment.
Sick leave and sick pay arrangements
Statutory sick pay (SSP) is paid to employees who are unable to work because of illness.
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If your personal assistant is unable to work for four or more days in a row, you must pay SSP. SSP starts on the first day that your personal assistant is off.
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For up to seven days of sickness your personal assistant can self-certificate. After seven days your personal assistant will need to produce a statement of fitness (or fit note) from their doctor.
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SSP is available to all eliglible employees.
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Keep all records of sickness periods lasting for four days in a row or longer and all SSP payments that you make. You can use a form provided by HMRC to keep these records.
Resources and further information
Pension arrangements
Under the Pensions Act 2008, every employer in the UK must put certain staff into a pension scheme and contribute towards it. This is called ‘automatic enrolment.’
Further information
Confidentiality
You will hold confidential information about your personal assistant that should not be passed on.
Ask permission to share any information with anyone else. This should be with informed consent, which means that you understand the consequences and have had no pressure put on you.
Make it clear to your personal assistant exactly who they may share information with and in what situation. For example, it is only shared with people who need to know it, such as, other people or organisations that provide you with support; and only if you are not able to give that information yourself. (No information should be shared with anyone, even your family or friends, against your wishes.)
If a personal assistant breaks a confidence, this should be treated as a disciplinary matter. Sometimes they may have to share information about you without your agreement, such as in medical emergencies, if they thought you were being abused by someone else, or if you have broken the law or if they believe that you intend to break the law.
There is also information that you need to hold about your personal assistant. This should be kept securely so that other people cannot access it.
Dismissal
Learn more about dealing with disputes and problems at work, in the ‘Sorting out problems’ section.
This can be done yourself or you can use a payroll scheme (local accountant or a direct payment, personal health budget or user led support organisation).
Doing it yourself
You will need to contact HMRC to register as an employer.
It is your responsibility to decide on the correct employment status of your personal assistant - the HMRC ‘Check employment status for tax’ tool can help.
Further information
Using a payroll scheme
Payroll schemes can make sure that your personal assistant’s tax, National Insurance and pension contributions are deducted correctly, tell you how much employers National Insurance to pay, sort out your paperwork and deal with the tax office (HMRC) for you.
You can ask your direct payment or personal health budget adviser or local support organisation about payroll providers. You might be able to find local accountants who will do this for you very cheaply. If you receive a social care or health direct payment this should include money to cover payroll costs.
Paying your personal assistant
Pay must be at least the national living wage (or the national minimum wage for workers 24 and under) while they are on call or working a sleepover; this includes sleeping time. You must provide a payslip and pay at least the minimum wage.
Call the Pay and Work Rights Helpline on 0300 123 1100 for the latest rate or check online.
Employment allowance
Individual employers can claim the National Insurance Contributions Allowance and reduce their National Insurance Contribution bill by up to £10,500 a year - find out more.
Providing a pension
As an employer, you have a legal duty to assess your personal assistants for workplace pension automatic enrolment. Depending on their age and earnings, you must automatically enrol eligible workers, allow others to opt in or join a pension scheme, and make employer contributions where required.
Automatic enrolment
Employers must automatically enrol certain workers into a workplace pension scheme and make contributions towards it. This will depend on the age of your personal assistant and how much they earn.
If your personal assistant opts out within the opt‑out period, their own contributions must be refunded. Employer contributions are refunded to the employer by the pension scheme.
If any of your personal assistants fall outside of the age and earning criteria, then you only need to put them into a pension scheme if they ask.
If you have worked out that you do not have any personal assistants to put into a pension scheme, you still have other tasks to carry out to meet your legal duties. For example, you still need to write to them to tell them how automatic enrolment applies to them.
You need to complete The Pensions Regulator’s ‘Declaration of compliance’ to tell them that you have complied with your automatic enrolment duties.
Further information
Redundancy is when you ask your personal assistant to leave, either because you do not need to employ them anymore or because you need to reduce the number of staff that you have.
If you make your personal assistant redundant you must comply with the law around redundancy.
Your personal assistant has certain rights, that may include redundancy pay, a notice period, consultation and time off to find a new job.
If your personal assistant has worked for you for two years or more, you must pay statutory redundancy pay. How much you pay will depend on the age of your personal assistant and how long they have been working for you.
Personal assistants are entitled to have maternity, paternity, adoption and parental leave and pay.
- Maternity
All pregnant employees are entitled to paid time off for ante-natal care and 52 weeks maternity leave, made up of 26 weeks ordinary maternity leave and 26 weeks additional maternity leave. You can offer more additional maternity leave if you wish. Not all 52 weeks are paid. Statutory maternity pay is payable for up to 39 weeks, subjecy to eligibility.
- Paternity
Fathers and partners may be entitle to two weeks paternity leave. A parent may be eligible for Shared Parental Leave and Pay if the mother/primary adopter returns to work early.
- Adoption
Where a child is adopted, the position is similar.
- Parental
An employee is allowed reasonable time off to deal with an emergency involving a dependant. A dependant can be a spouse, partner, child, grandchild, parent or someone who depends on them for care.
Your personal assistant may be entitled to parental leave (i.e. unpaid leave to look after their child’s welfare). Parental leave is limited to four weeks for each child, each year.
Parents may be able to take time off if their child dies before they turn 18 or if they have a stillbirth from 24 weeks of pregnancy. Visit the government website for more information.
You have a legal responsibility to make sure that your personal assistant remains safe and healthy whilst doing their job.
If you employ five or more people, you will need a health and safety policy. As an employer you must:
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think about any training that your personal assistant(s) need
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tell your personal assistant(s) about health and safety, including fire safety
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record (and possibly report) any accidents that take place in your home
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take out employer’s liability insurance.
Resources and further information
Individual employers need to have employer’s liability insurance to make sure that you and your personal assistants are protected if an accident or incident happens.
The specific details of your insurance policy can differ between companies, but they typically include three key elements employer’s
- liability
- public liability
- legal expenses.
It might be useful to let your insurance providers know you have employed personal assistants and have comprehensive home, travel and/or car insurance, depending on the support that your personal assistant provides.
Employer’s liability insurance and/or public liability insurance is essential. As an employer you have a legal duty to insure against accidents or injury to your staff, or accidents or injury caused by them while they are working for you.
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Employer’s liability insurance covers you if your personal assistant(s) make a compensation claim because they have been injured or fall ill because of their work.
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Public liability insurance covers you if anyone else makes a compensation claim because they have been injured or if their property gets damaged, by you or your personal assistant(s).
If you receive a direct payment or personal health budget, you should check that your local authority or the organisation that provides your personal health budget has included employer’s liability insurance in the amount it gives you.
Ensure you check what your insurance policy covers and any benefits it may include, for example:
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some insurers specialise in independent living insurance and offer free employment advice
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some independent living insurance policies may also help you to meet the costs involved in making staff redundant (depending on circumstances) and/ or recruitment costs for a replacement personal assistant following a dispute.
Your direct payment or personal health budget adviser, local support organisation or the organisation that provides any funding that you receive can give you options for taking out insurance.
Further information
As an employer, by law, you need to keep the following records – these are called statutory records:
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tax and national insurance information
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for most workers it is advisable to keep records of individual hours worked to enable averaging over a period, to meet the requirements of the Working Time Regulations 1998
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holidays, again for the Working Time Regulations 1998
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pay, to ensure that the requirements of the Minimum Wage Act 1998 are being met, and to meet the statutory requirement that workers are issued with wage slips
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paid sickness for more than four days and Statutory Sick Pay
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accidents, injuries, diseases and dangerous occurrences. The Health and Safety Executive can advise on particular requirements and necessary assessments.
Further information