PA Employer Responsibilities

As a PA, it can be helpful to know what your employer’s responsibilities are when it comes to following the law and good practice as an employer.

What a PA employer has to do by law

• To make sure that staff are provided with a statement of their main terms and conditions of employment on the day they start work
• Pay the wages, tax, National Insurance and pension of each PA employee (they can ask a payroll company to do this on their behalf)
• Provide appropriate training for each PA from an appropriate training provider. This is especially important if a PA is required to use equipment, such as a hoist, or give a PA employer medication
• Keep all relevant information and correspondence relating to the employment of any PA(s) confidential and secure
• Undertake appropriate risk assessments on their property if the PA(s) supports them at home, as well as any risk assessments on any relevant activity that the PA will undertake in the home
• Meet any Health & Safety requirements in the workplace and to not put the themselves or their employee at risk.
• Register as an employer with HMRC
• Purchase Employer’s Liability Insurance and follow the advice of their insurance provider on employment issues.

The PA employer’s responsibilities as an employer also include

• Recruiting people fairly and not to discriminate against anyone. This includes taking up references and applying for a PVG check
• Having a contingency plan in place to cover for staff who are on annual leave and off sick
• To have a Job Description in place that details the role and tasks that a Personal Assistants will undertake
• To make sure that PAs have an induction into the workplace
• To support PAs through supervision and ongoing training and development.

Next steps

You can find further information on employers’ responsibilities at the AILN website found below.