PA Employer Responsibilities

When someone becomes a Personal Assistant (PA) employer they will also have the support of their Employment Liability Insurer. It is important to follow their advice whenever this is provided. This will help to make sure that the employer follows the law as required.

What a PA employer has to do by law

• Register as an employer with HMRC
• Purchase Employers Liability Insurance
• 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(s) 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
• Letting the Council know how they have spent your SDS budget and how this is meeting your needs

The PA employer’s responsibilities as an employer also include

• Recruiting people fairly and not to discriminate against anyone. This includes taking up of 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 have employers Liability Insurance in place before staff start their employment and to update this every year
• To undertake the payroll administration of wages, or to ask a Payroll Service to run their staff payroll, including registering with the Pensions Regulator & HMRC. An employer will need to provide the Payroll service with any information they need, such as copies of timesheets and any changes to staff details
• To meet any Health & Safety requirements in the workplace and to not put the themselves or their employee at risk
• To provide any relevant training to staff to make sure they can do their job well. This includes equipment specific training, such as operating a hoist
• To make sure that staff have an induction into the workplace
• To make sure that staff are provided with a statement of their main terms and conditions of employment on on the day they start their employment. This will need to include their hours of work, pay, Annual Leave and sickness entitlement, as well as information on any Disciplinary and Grievance Procedure and their Job description
• To ensure compliance with the General Data Protection Rules (GDPR) and Data Protection Act 2018 regarding staff’s personal details during and after their employment

Next steps

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