Neighbor offering to be my Dad's carer - but wants to be paid

rach_k

Turn it down.  If you want to do so gently, tell her it's for her own protection as much as anything.  If something went wrong, she wouldn't be insured and that could be really bad for her.

JReacher1

What’s the alternative to this person?
Personally if the person is known to them, your Dad likes them, and the duties are limited to basic tasks, like cooking meals, cleaning, providing company etc. Then I would probably consider this. Especially if there is no alternative. 

Many people are cared by people who are not fully qualified carer’s e.g. family members. 

Of course I’d you can afford and are happy to pay for a qualified carer then that’s a better option. 

HampshireH

Family members as carer is different to a neighbour wanting to be paid for 30 hrs a week, no insurance, possibly no qualification, not registered and wanting to evade hmrc by putting it through her husbands building business.

Opens the door to being abuse.

How would you monitor 30 hrs a week?

What would happen if something went wrong?

Is she trained in administering the right medication?

Do you actually know her?

There are plenty of care providers out there who are legitimate and you would have come back on if thr worst happened.

kingfisherblue

No. Just no.

By paying someone privately to care for your dad, you would effectively become an employer, and would be responsible for insurance, tax, NI contributions. People who receive Direct Payments from the council are employers in the same way, but have support from the council to ensure that everything is done properly and legally.

No DBS check, but paid careworkers have enhanced checks.

No way of monitoring the thirty hours or what she does in that time.

No safeguarding training, no lifting and handling (if your dad requires it), no medication training.

Paying through a building company - what's that about? I've no idea how it could be fraudulent, but it certainly sounds suspect to me. Would they invoice you, rather than you giving a payslip? Doesn't that mean that the builders would be employing her? I just can't get my head around this. It doesn't make any sense to me.

I understand how difficult it is to care for someone - I've been a carer for 22 years. My son is severely disabled, and I also care for my elderly mum. It's not easy, but I think that you really need to ask yourself an important question - would you want your dad to be cared for by someone who is unqualified, and whose suggestion raises more questions than answers? By coming onto MSE, and asking for advice, you obviously have some qualms. I personally would not let this lady care of either my son or my mum. There are too many problems to overcome, and your dad deserves higher quality care.

Abbafan1972

I would definitely decline.  You would be leaving yourself wide open to all sorts of problems.

dancing_star

kingfisherblue said:

Paying through a building company - what's that about? I've no idea how it could be fraudulent, but it certainly sounds suspect to me. Would they invoice you, rather than you giving a payslip? Doesn't that mean that the builders would be employing her? I just can't get my head around this. It doesn't make any sense to me.

Increase the wage bill of the company, increase tax deductible expenses, lower tax bill for company.

HMRC would take a dim view. Tax fraud.

kingfisherblue

dancing_star said:

kingfisherblue said:

Paying through a building company - what's that about? I've no idea how it could be fraudulent, but it certainly sounds suspect to me. Would they invoice you, rather than you giving a payslip? Doesn't that mean that the builders would be employing her? I just can't get my head around this. It doesn't make any sense to me.

Increase the wage bill of the company, increase tax deductible expenses, lower tax bill for company.

HMRC would take a dim view. Tax fraud.

Thank you. I knew that it just didn't sound right, but couldn't work out how it was fraudulent. I don't have any experience in that area (obviously!). Thank you for the explanation. Even more reason not to employ the neighbour.