To further explain some aspects of being a direct payment recipient in need of care, we have signposted you towards some helpful video resources. This section directs you to these informative videos that provide additional guidance and insight.
By viewing these resources, you can gain a fuller understanding of the important concepts of becoming an employer of a personal assistant. We encourage you to explore these video resources to enhance your knowledge and empower yourself as a service user. The videos aim to educate and support you on this journey.
Contents
- Introduction
- Employers Liability Insurance
- Redundancy and Emergency Recruitment
- Employment Law, Tax and Legal Advice
- Individual Employer Funding
- Recruiting and Retaining PAs
- Recruiting PAs
- Learning and Development
- Using Technology in Care
- Staying Safe Online
Introduction
This is an introduction to Direct Payments and Home Employment Insurance. We begin by emphasising the critical importance of having insurance as an employer of a personal assistant. As you take on the responsibilities of employing a PA Direct Payments, insurance is an essential protection that is legally required.
Employers Liability Insurance
When you become an employer, you take on certain responsibilities and risks. That is why every employer is required to have employer liability insurance. This video explains why obtaining employer liability insurance is so important when you hire staff using Direct Payments.
It outlines how this type of insurance protects you financially if an employee becomes injured or ill due to their work.
Redundancy and Emergency Recruitment
When employing a personal assistant with Direct Payments, you must be prepared for emergencies or changes in circumstances. Our insurance policies provide coverage for contingency situations like needing to urgently recruit new staff or make redundancies.
Our policies include provisions to support you if you suddenly lose a PA and need emergency recruitment, allowing you to have peace of mind.
Employment Law, Tax and Legal Advice
As an employer of a personal assistant, you may encounter problems that you will need advice for. You aren’t expected to have full knowledge about employment laws, tax and legal. That is why we have included in our policies exclusive access to employment law advisers available to answer any of your queries regarding tax and legal advice.
Individual Employer Funding
If your carer requires some additional training to assist with their role, this can be an added cost that you hadn’t factored in. Skills for Care allows you to apply for additional funding to help cover these costs as well as the cost of a replacement carer whilst they are at their training course.
Recruiting and Retaining PAs
Hearing a first-hand experience of employing personal assistants with direct payments can be useful to guide you when making this decision. This webinar is led by Tess Reddington who employs personal assistants to care for her son, Richard. She explains from her experience the things that have and haven’t worked when recruiting and retaining a carer.
Recruiting PAs
This is another webinar by Skills for Care discussing recruiting a personal assistant. The webinar is led by Helen Charlton who works for Project Art Works, a charity that works with a broad range of neurodivergent people allowing them to create art.
Helen introduces us to Mel, who has a younger brother, Carl, who attends Project Art Works. Mel explains the barriers around recruiting a carer, especially for those with challenging behavioural needs.
Learning and Development
Within this next webinar from Skills for Care, Mohammed Ilyas discusses the importance of CPD (Continous Performance Development) and why investing in your carer’s development is a great way to improve the care they provide and the retention of your carer.
Using Technology in Care
This webinar discusses all things technology in care and how they can support the service user and the carer to deliver the best care.
Disclaimer
The information and files provided are intended for signposting purposes. We strive to keep them up-to-date, but it’s the user’s responsibility to double-check the latest versions and information directly on the referenced websites.
Websites used include: Skills for Care, Acas, Gov.uk.