What are Individual Employers?
An Individual Employer is an individual that is directly employing a Personal Assistant (PA) for their care and support. This is usually funded using a direct payment from a local authority, a personal health budget from the NHS or the employers own money (or a combination). Employing Personal Assistants is a way of enabling individuals to have a choice and control over their care, support and social activity needs by focusing on what’s important to them, for example, allowing the employer to choose what hours they would like support, how often and when. Individual employers will take on the role of the employer and have many new responsibilities, almost like running a care company but as a single entity instead.
Another key distinction is the level of control the individual has over the care / support they receive. For an Individual Employer (IE) with a PA, they can decide the “who, what, how and when” for their care. Domiciliary Care differs in this regard as the service / agency and / or local authority decide the level of care required, including how and when it will be delivered.
What do Individual Employers need to consider?
Individual Employers need to consider many things when becoming an employer, such as calculating what their budgets going to be and deciding what support they will want from their PAs by creating a care plan. Personal Care Assistants | Personal Home Care Services – HR & OD (hrod.co.uk)
When thinking about where to start with finding a PA, Individual Employers will need to prepare a job advertisement which outlines the hours, days and support needed. The Individual Employer can post their advert on local Facebook groups, Indeed, and PA recruitment websites. Once the advert is out and you hopefully start to get some responses, the Individual Employer will need to create a job description (or source one and adapt it to their requirements). It is recommended that the employer carries out interviews and selects the appropriate PA for their needs.
Once a PA has been selected, a job offer and acceptance letter can be given. Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check on a potential PA is highly recommended before they start their role. The Individual Employer will need to think about and decide whether they pay for the DBS or the PA pays for it themselves. It is a necessary part of the recruitment process to check the PA’s right to work in the UK and it is advisable to ask the PA to provide references (ideally at least two). Contracts are to be signed and kept in a staff folder with the other documentation, in a secure and confidential place.
The Individual Employer then needs to ensure their Employer’s Liability Insurance is set up and meets all the requirements. Did you know each employer has to have a minimum of £5 million cover? See the link for more information provided by HSE. Employers’ Liability (Compulsory Insurance) Act 1969: A guide for employers HSE40
HMRC will need to know that you are an employer now. Think about whether you want to source a finance company to help with payroll or whether you would like to do this yourself. Don’t forget holiday entitlement and pension schemes that your PA may be entitled to.
