If you become the employer of a personal assistant you need to work out their wages including their National Insurance and tax contributions. This is called a payroll.
Doing your own payroll
You may choose to do your own payroll for which you will need to set up a Pay as You Earn (PAYE) scheme with HM Revenue and Customs and ensure you comply with all the legal requirements of becoming an employer (see being an employer: your legal obligations). You will be responsible for working out tax, National Insurance and statutory payments to pay your personal assistant.
Payroll services
Many people do not wish to run their own payroll and prefer to use a specialised payroll service. Such services will take on responsibility for paying wages, statutory payments, tax and National Insurance, based on information you send them. However, as the employer, responsibility for making the correct payments will still be yours.
The council can give you information on companies who provide a payroll service for people using their direct payments to employ personal assistants.
Real Time Information
Following the introduction of a new system called Real Time Information (RTI) there are changes to the way that you report your PAYE payroll information to HMRC. As someone employing a PA, you may be able to operate RTI using paper rather than having to use a computer to send the information electronically.