Personal Assistant Care Work from PB. Please help with self employment side of things

Tunstallstoven

Hi all

I work in care 32 hours a week and am about to start helping someone on a 6 hour per week basis (separate to my day job). The payment for this additional work will come from the chap's personal budget.

I know nothing about being self employed and really don't have a clue as to what I need to do.

Do I need to be registered with anything/anyone?

Will I need some kind of insurance? The work will be at his house and in the community.

What kind of paperwork do I need to keep for the taxman?

Do I need to let anyone know? I have Income Protection and so will inform them, but are there any other people who usually need to be told about this sort of thing?

I would appreciate any help or advice.....

Many thanks

Max

(PS - my current employer has a policy for this sort of thing and am I doing the necessary work, so don't need any advice on that aspect).

jobbingmusician

Have a look at the first post in the mystery shopping thread, on the 'up your income' board

If I were going to work with someone I didn't know well, in their own home, I would make sure SOMEONE knew where I was and when to expect me back, just in case. The sort of thing that if you DO tell someone, you will never need to have done (Oops, that's probably what you mean by your current employer's policy )

kingfisherblue

In my area, personal assistants that are employed through a disabled person's direct payments (or personal budget) are covered by Employer's Liability Insurance, taken out by the person you care for. The disabled person (or their appointee) also deals with wages, tax and NI, as the carer is an employee. They sort out everything with HMRC, although you may have to sign a form about tax (as you are likely to pay tax on the full amount you earn from secondary employment because your personal allowance is used in your primary employment).

So, the question really is will you be self employed, or is the disabled person your employer?

topsales

I do this on a self employed basis and am registered as self employed with the taxman, have insurance etc. Keep receipts for car maintenance, phone calls etc.

Tunstallstoven

Many thanks for all the replies.

@kingfisherblue - you hit the nail on the head and are spot on. I've delved deeper this morning and it turns out I will not be self employed, but will rather be in the employment of the "disabled person". So I will check on our first meeting what the situation is with regards insurance and the payroll side of things.

And I'm starting to wonder whether I will have any entitlement to sick pay, holiday pay etc.? If I am being employed, does that automaticlly entitle me to some of these things?

Many thanks

Max

kingfisherblue

According to the department that help with direct payments at my local council, being employed as a personal carer is exactly like being employed anywhere else. So yes, you should be entitled to holidays and sick pay (although sick pay might be SSP). You should also receive a proper wage slip. Your employer should have a certificate of Employer's Liability Insurance, which you are entitled to see a copy of. The council in my area pay an additional amount each year to the disabled person so that they can purchase the insurance, and they recommend a particular firm (although you can choose your own firm).

You might need to check your car insurance to make sure it covers you for commuting to more than one place of work. If you intend to carry the disabled person as a passenger in your own car, you will need to get additional business insurance for this - you state in your OP that the work will be at his house and in the community. So unless you are using his car, or another form of transport, you will need to upgrade your insurance in order to cover your new passenger. This is even for short journeys such as to the supermarket, post office, or library, so you might want to clarify whether you will be expected to use your own vehicle to transport your client. If you are, I would expect any additional insurance cost to be paid, plus an amount per mile whilst he is in the car as a passenger.