Direct Payments Expenses Help?

Edale

Sorry to disagree but ignore the claiming back VAT post. It would not be worth registering for VAT and is not really applicable. I think it should be possible to claim some of your expenses against income tax but you should talk to your local tax office. The general rule is that the expenses are wholly connected to your job and necessary to perform your job. Travelling to a fixed place of work is not counted.

We get direct payments for our son, our council pay at a rate of £6.32 per hour, I know councils vary depending on the local going rate but £11 per hour as someone suggested above seems a lot. Direct payments also cover other costs of employing someone, for example they pay for employer's liability insurance and they may pay towards the cost of advertising the job and certain training costs. A useful leaflet can be downloaded here.

I think you need to be open and honest with the parents, if you explain the situation then a compromise may be reached with the payment of your costs. It depends on their financial circumstances, they may not be able to afford to supplement the direct payments themselves.

I appreciate that by the time you have paid tax you are working for very little, especially after you have travelled and paid for meals etc. I am sure if you start by explaining this and that you do the work primarily for reasons other than money, I am sure they will understand.

Keep up the good work!

burnsguitarman

That's Great, Just the information I was looking for!
I think I will have to try and discuss these issues with Mum, as at the moment we have no formal aggreement as such.
Thanks for all your help and the words of encouragement.

jetcat

Edale wrote: »

We get direct payments for our son, our council pay at a rate of £6.32 per hour, I know councils vary depending on the local going rate but £11 per hour as someone suggested above seems a lot.
!

is the £6.32 what the council pay the dp support worker? I know you said that £11 seems high, but tbh, yours seems really low!!! I get just over £11 per hour paid into my dp account, x 14 (the amount of hours i have been assessed for). I then pay my pa £8 per hour, the remaing £3ish stays in the bank to pay tax, NI, insurance etc when needed.

The only difference at the moment is as my pa is on maternity leave, i have had to use an agency, where they are more like the £11 per hour (but i dont have tax/NI to pay).

I am not sure if it is different for children (assuming your son is under 18), I think it is such a shame that a lot of people (including me!) are not too sure how the scheme works, but we still depend on it!

weanie

I have operated D payments before and my council provides £11 per hour also.
Out of this money, the operator has to decide upon hourly rates and work out other costs too.They have to take out Public Liability Insurance, pay the employers contributions on the wages, sort out advertising costs for staff etc. They also must provide written contracts of employment and these contracts entitle the carers to holiday pay, sick pay - even maternity pay. All this is overseen by the council and someone will come tothe house to discuss set-up and advise about the scheme in general. The bank account details [the account has to be unique to purpose] has to be forwarded to the relevent office ever month, inspections of accounts in the home are 6 monthly or yearly and the forms all have to be completed accurately and a company has to be used for payroll to provide payslips and to sort out NI deductions. We were advised to pay no more than £8 per hour in order to provide for the other expenses.
In our circumstances, I have given extra money from my own account for meals out or petrol or other items and we have taken no extra money out of the bank account for anything else. There remains a healthy balance in the account but this belongs to contingency and ultimately would go back to the council.

Edale

Yes we get 4 hours per week at £6.32 and out of this paye and ni has to be paid. This means the carer gets just over £5 per hour, I agree this is not enough, we live in Rotherham (just moved from the Peak District) and I assume people earn less here. Are those getting £11 from the prosperous south?

Js_Other_Half

Edale wrote: »

Yes we get 4 hours per week at £6.32 and out of this paye and ni has to be paid. This means the carer gets just over £5 per hour, I agree this is not enough, we live in Rotherham (just moved from the Peak District) and I assume people earn less here. Are those getting £11 from the prosperous south?

My council in West Yorks pay something over £10 per hour, less all the expenses.

Edale

We also got a lump sum (about £130) to pay for liability insurance and when our carer has holiday they will pay double allowing us to pay someone else whilst paying holiday pay as well (which you now have to do). I believe any training needs would be paid for in addition.

It seems some authorities pay a higher headline rate but it includes all the extras, £11 ph is still much more generous even if it includes all these. You would think they would have a consistent approach accross the country.

daska

You might find this page from the HMRC website a good start when identifying what you can claim as expenses. HMRC are very helpful so give them a ring.

jetcat

Edale wrote: »

Yes we get 4 hours per week at £6.32 and out of this paye and ni has to be paid. This means the carer gets just over £5 per hour, I agree this is not enough, we live in Rotherham (just moved from the Peak District) and I assume people earn less here. Are those getting £11 from the prosperous south?

i am in north east england! Is the carer getting below mimimum wage then

tell me to butt out if you want - i'm way too nosy for my own good!

burnsguitarman

Gosh, It would be more helpful if all councils, simply paid the assistants themselves, along with expenses everyone should be treated the same. Don't they think you have enough to do without all the added paperwork and stress of direct payments!

No wonder people don't take up the help they need!

It seems to me the council's are just passing the buck, and you can bet these payroll agencies, are making a pretty penny out of it as well. Talk about job creation!