Employing a personal care assistant

You can use your direct payment to employ a personal care assistant. If you do hire your own personal care assistant, you will need to register as an employer with HMRC and know your responsibilities as an employer.  

The direct payment team can support you with all of the below.

Your responsibilities as an employer 

Being an employer carries certain responsibilities and obligations, such as: 

• calculating wages, tax, National Insurance, pension enrolment 
• managing annual, maternity, paternity and sickness leave 
• recruitment, contracts of employment and job profiles 
• ensuring up to date timesheets are produced 
• ensure all checks are made of their potential employee including checks for Disclosure and Baring (DBS) and their right to work in the UK 
• ensuring health and safety criteria are met  
• arranging employer's liability insurance (ELI) - You must purchase ELI as soon as you employ a personal assistant. It protects you as an employer against any accidents or if your PA becomes ill because of the work they do for you.   
• Providing your employee/s with a workplace pension 

Self employed personal care assistants 

You are able to use a self-employed personal care assistant. If you choose to do so, it is your responsibility to:  

• check they have the right to work in the UK (opens new window). 
• provide us with the HMRC letter with your personal assistants's Unique Taxpayer Reference (UTR). (opens new window) We need this to set up your direct payment. You can check the self-employed status of your personal assistant on the HMRC website (opens new window)
• check they have their own public liability insurance 

It is forbidden to pay your personal assistant in cash and this could result in your direct payment being suspended or terminated. 

Please note: A personal assistant is unable to start working until they have contracts of employment in place and you, as the employer, have a valid ELI policy in place.  

Employing family and friends 

Direct payments are not intended to replace existing support networks within the family and community. For this reason you may not normally use direct payments to employ close family members living in the same household.  

Using a care agency or day service

A direct payment can be used to pay a care agency or day service provision that does not commission directly with Gateshead Council.  

If you choose to purchase support from a care agency, it is recommended that you purchase care from a provider who is registered with the Care Quality Commission (CQC). A list of providers is available on the CQC website.

If you choose to use your direct payment for support from an agency, you will need to agree terms and conditions with them.  

Please note: if the agency you choose charges more than the amount agreed in your direct payment, you will have to pay the difference.