Anyone use Direct Payments? Need some Advice

elizabethsmum2008

Hi

Hopefully someone on here will give some sound advice, been granted Respite Care for our disabled daughter who's nearly 5, a few years back, but social services couldnt find us a family, so have now come up with Direct Payments, we have got someone to care for her, but this whole thing has confused me even more now, I have a seperate bank account for the payments to go into, and am registering with IR as an employer, but how do i work out the PAYE side of the amount we pay her? She work's already with an agency so does pay some PAYE?

Any help or advice would be great

Thanks
Mandy

rev229

We get direct payments for our daughter. It is all very confusing. The first few years I got a tax bill via direct payments quarterly then it all stopped. I have not paid ant tax for ages, I keep telling them but they say that I am in credit. No idea how they work it out. We also get a payslip monthly for our carer which tells us how much we should pay her. You get for example 8.80per hour out of that 6.40 approx is for the carer per hour and the rest is national insurance, tax and a bit towards puplic liability insrance which you should have. Thats how it was explained to me. You can ask for someone at direct payment to explain it all to you. Personally I hate all the extra paperwork so each month I just put the bank staements and receipts in an envelope and post it to them. I have enough to do!

ladylumps45

i am going to start receiving direct payment for help with homecare for myself .the social services lady said that i can either employ someone or use an agency.
if i employ someone who has a business of their own and its only them workin g for theirselves do i still have to have all the insurance and payslips and NI etc as they would have their own insurance?? can i pay them cash~?
it all sounds so confusing.
elizabeths mum,ive seen online sites that work it all out for you for a small fee but im not sure if they are any good or not and i have the same questions as you!

daska

The simple way to avoid it is for her to be self-employed - the four people I have in addition to agency staff all bill me on a self-employed basis and take care of their own tax/NI - but they're all self-employed in other fields for their 'normal' jobs. Just get them to invoice you and pay them and make sure there's a record - so get a receipt if you pay them in cash.

Contrary to popular belief HMRC are actually very helpful and will talk you through any problems you have with PAYE if you want to do it yourself. It's not difficult, it's just 'yet another thing you have to do but don't have time for...'

Your other option is to employ someone to do the payroll for you.

ladylumps45

thats great info daska,thanks.
do self employed people have their own insurance too so basically as long as they are self employed and they invoice you and give you a receipt when you pay them,thats it? no payroll,insurance,tax etc to worry about ?

kingfisherblue

When I employed somebody who was working in another job as well, they had to pay tax. HMRC small employers section visited me and filled out the forms, telling me how much tax I needed to pay on their behalf. Before that I was tearing my hair out!

Carer's Centres and the DP section of your local council often have someone to help you. Otherwise, your local HMRC might come to your home to fill out the forms as they did with me.

Don't forget that if you pay tax as an employer, you need to fill out a tax return. If you do this online, you get somewhere between £50 and £100 (can't remember how much, it seems to vary from year to year). This is yours to keep, and doesn't need to be paid back to the DP department, even though they provide you with the money to employ somebody.

eve13_2

HMRC actually run courses for employers employing under 20 people which we are if we recieve direct payments. As I get direct payments I found it very useful for them to show how (and if) you need to pay NI and PAYE. Just get in touch with your local(ish) office. Now I simply fill in a PAYE booklet quaterly for my sons assistant, and a yearly reconciliation. I've found them very helpful and compassionate every time I have an enquiry.

amilotte

https://www.disabledparentsnetwork.org.uk

You may already know of this site. I have not had chance to have a good look through this website but did notice some info on DP's. Hope this may be of some assistance to you!

amilotte

Ooops, sorry got the this post mixed up with another one! I should learn not to do things in a rush!!!

Thrifty_Sister

elizabethsmum2008 wrote: »

Hi

Hopefully someone on here will give some sound advice, been granted Respite Care for our disabled daughter who's nearly 5, a few years back, but social services couldnt find us a family, so have now come up with Direct Payments, we have got someone to care for her, but this whole thing has confused me even more now, I have a seperate bank account for the payments to go into, and am registering with IR as an employer, but how do i work out the PAYE side of the amount we pay her? She work's already with an agency so does pay some PAYE?

Any help or advice would be great

Thanks
Mandy

In answer to your enquiry - the Direct payments office that sorted out your daughters care package should have all the relevant information re PAYE etc. My friend has used the system for several years now and it really is very easy - once you know what you are doing!! She just lets the PAYE department know how many hours the carer/s work and they do all the working out and let her know how much to pay each carer along with a pay slip.

johno388

We use an accountant recommended to us by social services, a small part of our DP goes to them, but it saves an enormous amount of hassle.