Legal responsibilities and obligations part two
Employer’s liability insurance
Most employers are required by law to ensure against liability for injury or disease to their employees arising out of their employment. It is important that you ensure that appropriate employer’s liability insurance is in place before your personal assistant(s) begin employment. This is to make sure that you are insured against any possible claims which may arise. Further information regarding employer’s liability insurance is available from the Health and Safety Executive.
Health and safety
When you employ personal assistants, you take on responsibilities for ensuring their health and safety whilst working for you. Further information is available from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) website.
Tax and National Insurance
By law, you must register with HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) as an employer and operate Pay as You Earn (PAYE) on the pay of your employees. It is the employers’ responsibility to deduct the tax and National Insurance contributions from their wages and pay it to HM Revenue and Customs. Many people find it helpful to use a professional payroll service that can do all this on your behalf. You can pay for this service using your Direct Payment.
As an employer, you must also pay Employers National Insurance contributions for any of your employees whose earnings are over a certain level (this usually increases each year).
This sounds very daunting and many people find it helpful to use a specialised payroll service. Such services will take on responsibility for paying wages, statutory payments, tax and National Insurance, based on information supplied by you. However, you should remember that, as the employer, the responsibility for making the correct payments will still be yours. Further information is available from GOV.UK support for new employers.
Statutory Sick Pay
If an employee is sick for four consecutive days or more, they may be entitled to Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) from you. If you are using a payroll service they will work out whether the employee is entitled to receive SSP and claim the money back from HM Revenue and Customs. Further information is available from GOV.UK HMRC.
Maternity
Your employee will have certain rights if she becomes pregnant, such as statutory maternity leave, paid time off work for ante-natal care and up to 52 weeks statutory maternity leave. Depending on the length of time she has worked for you and her average earnings, she may also be entitled to statutory maternity pay up to 39 weeks. Further information is available from GOV.UK maternity leave.
Parental Leave
If your employee’s partner is expecting a baby and your employee will be responsible for bringing up the child, they could have the right to statutory parental leave and in some cases statutory parental pay. Further information is available from GOV.UK parental leave.
Pension
Employers (including direct payment holders) will be required to comply with the duty to automatically enrol eligible workers into a qualifying workplace pension scheme and to meet the minimum contributions required by law. More information is available from The Pension Regulator.
Training and Support (Workforce development)
‘All staff working in adult social care should be able to access and take part in learning and development so they can carry out their role effectively and deliver high quality care. Skills for Care knows that there is a strong business case for investing in qualifications and development of staff and that employers recognise this. The Workforce Development Fund is available to support employers to make that investment which benefits the organisation, the workers and those who need care and support.’ (Skillsforcare workforce development)
Notice period
Employees who have been in continuous employment for more than one month and less than two years are entitled to at least one week’s notice of termination of employment. After two years’ continuous employment, this increases to one week for each year to a maximum of 12 weeks. So for example, if you have five and a half years continuous service, you will be entitled to five weeks’ notice. Further information can be found at GOV.UK handing in notice.
Unfair dismissal
Employees have the right not to be unfairly dismissed. In most circumstances they must have at least one year’s continuous service before they have this right. Further information about dismissals can be found at GOV.UK dismissal or ACAS.
Disciplinary and grievance
A good employer should set rules to benefit the employer and his/her employees. This should clearly indicate what conduct the employer considers to be acceptable and what action will be taken if the rules of conduct are broken. If you are employing a personal assistant you are advised to follow the guidance set out in the ACAS Code of Practice Disciplinary and Grievance Procedures when dealing with any disputes. Further information is available at ACAS or GOV.UK taking disciplinary action.
Redundancy
Should you need to make your employee redundant (e.g. if your needs change) they may be entitled to redundancy pay providing they have been in continuous employment for two years or more. The amount they will be entitled to will be based on the length of time they have worked for you, their age and the amount of weekly pay. Further information is available at ACAS or GOV.UK.