Staying at home

Employing someone yourself

You may need advice on employing home care help if you are planning to employ someone for the first time. There are organisations that will help you to understand the necessary steps you need to need to put this in place

Advice and guidance is available through national agencies where you can check that you have all the necessary knowledge about the following topics.

Advice for employing help

  • Citizens Advice Bureau employment section - provides independent advice on your rights with·practical, up-to-date information on a wide range of topics, including benefits and housing, employment rights and discrimination, debt and tax issues.

  • 'Finding help at home' - leaflet produced by Age Concern gives an overview of the different kinds of help that are available and has sections on finding and employing a care worker. This factsheet will be useful to anyone who might benefit from extra support at home or who has a friend or relative in need of help.

  • New employers -  specific information from The HMRC. The HM Revenue & Customs (a merger of Inland Revenue and HM Customs and Excise in 2005) ensure the correct tax is paid at the right time, whether this relates to payment of taxes received by the department or entitlement to benefits paid.




 

Information on employment

  • Information on employment  from the Directgov website covers, amongst other topics, employment terms and conditions, redundancy and leaving your job and Health and safety at work.

The right to work

Make sure your employee has the right to work in the UK before they start work. Understand the issues around immigration status; it's a criminal offence to employ someone who doesn't have the right to work legally in the UK

Discrimination

There are laws against discrimination.

Health and safety

The following sites give information on your Health & Safety responsibilities as an employer

Terms and conditions

Information on pay, contracts and conditions, types of work, working hours, time off and holidays

Workplace disputes

Good practice for employers when dealing with disputes, grievances and disciplinary procedures

Work and families

Redundancy and leaving your job

 

Training and qualifications for Personal Assistants

You need to consider:
  • what tasks the Personal Assistant will be expected to carry out
  • whether there is any specialist equipment, such as hoists, slide boards etc, that the Personal Assistant will be expected to use
  • whether the Personal Assistant will be expected to undertake any specialist work such as skin care, turning etc.
  • whether the Personal Assistant will be working with people who have a sight and/or hearing impairment or other condition such as dementia.

This will help you to decide whether experience, training and qualifications are important.

In some circumstances, where a Personal Assistant would be expected to undertake specialist work such as moving and handling, it may be safer to employ someone with experience, who has had training, particularly as you are legally responsible for their health and safety. Alternatively you may want to arrange training, so your Personal Assistant can learn how to work with you

Someone with an NVQ in Health and Social Care may be a good option as they will have an understanding of social care work and have demonstrated their ability to carry out a range of social care work in order to gain their qualification.

 
 

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What am I entitled to?

The local authority is here to help everyone understand their needs and, if required, provide an assessment.

For more information about what help you are entitled to, please see the Who can get help from Adult Services web pages.

Try our online self assessment