Direct Payments and Assessment

When caring for someone it may get to the point where you need outside help. Firstly you should seek a care assessment from the local council, social services.

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When you have been assessed you have the choice of receiving Direct Payments which give you flexibility and control of the care you need.

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If you choose to employ a carer (rather than use an agency) you become an employer and need to provide a payroll. This sounds really intimidating. It need not be. This is where we come in! The council will usually pay the fee for this service.

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A step further is to have a managed account where we take care of your whole budget and the responsibilities that go with it.

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Here is a booklet which explains the processes in more detail. If you would like further help please contact us directly.

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       Assessment to Direct Payments​

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Parkside Payroll Documents

Here are a few of the most used documents available for you to download. Paper copies are happily sent out on request.​

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      Employee/PA Starter Form (Fill in Computer Version) ​           Employee/PA Starter Form (Printable Version)

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       Employee Leaver Form

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       Timesheets (Monthly)

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       Timesheets (Monthly - Period Ending 20th)

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       Timesheets (4-Weekly)

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Sheffield City Council - Adult Social Care Contacts

Sheffield City Council have just issued a revised list of contacts for Adult Social Care teams. To download a copy of the document just click on the link.

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       Adult Social Care Contracts (SCC)

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Retirement Age and Contributions

Here is some information about reaching retirement age (currently 65) and paying NI or Workplace Pensions contributions:

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       Retirement Age and Pensions

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Pensions Regulator

People have started to receive correspondence from the Pensions Regulator. This is causing anxiety and worry for some families. Please don't worry we will do all we can to help, but for most families it just won't be an issue as your carers do not fall into the eligible category. We will act as the point of contact with the Regulator.

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Here is the crucial information from the Regulator.

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"The law on workplace pensions has changed. Every employer with at least one member of staff (even if it’s a carer to help you around the home) now has new duties, including enrolling those who are eligible into a workplace pension scheme and contributing towards it. This is called automatic enrolment.

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If you directly employ one or more people to provide you with care and support, you’re an employer and automatic enrolment duties will apply to you. If they are aged 22 or over (and under state pension age), and you pay them over £192 a week or £833 a month, you’ll need to provide a pension for them." 

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- If you pay your carers less than this, they are not eligible.

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Redundancy Pay

This is rarely applicable for carers, but for those occasions when it is, when a PA has worked more than 2 years before the death of their employer , we have put together some basic information on the sheet below.

 

       Redundancy Pay

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Sick Pay

Families regularly ask us about sick pay for their PAs. This will vary from family to family depending on how often and how many hours the PA works. We recommend including something about it in your PA contract.

 

With most PAs working occasional days we advise rescheduling your hours as the family don't receive money in their Direct Payments to cover sick pay.

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Where a PA earns more than £112 per week (correct at Nov 2015) they can get Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) if they have been off work for at least 4 days. For further information please go to Gov.uk

 

Please contact us if we can help with any further questions.

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Employment and Support Allowance (ESA)

 

A Cautionary Tale about ESA:

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One of the families we know well has just discovered to their cost that their disabled young person was put on Contributions-Based ESA when Incapacity Benefit ceased. As he has never worked (due to lack of support) he should have been put on Income-Based ESA. As a result he has been fined for claiming help with dental charges (only allowable on Income-Based ESA). If it wasn't for the hard work and continued support of his mother he would be in quite a predicament.

 

So we would urge any family who might be in a similar position to check it out and if necessary get transferred before it catches up with you!!

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