Employing Carers rather than paying Ridiculous Agency fees?

[Stephen_16071]

This is probably the stupidest question I have ever asked on here, but after handing over yet another £2,700 of Mums money we got chatting.

What Nurse/Carer in this world would not accept half of this for 2 hours work a day? Or maybe two employed in case one gets sick and we need cover at £1000 a month would still save money..

I've worked in HR for a long time and I assume the burden of becoming an employer, tax returns, workplace pension etc. Is the stumbling point.

I just wondered if anyone has ever had the same thoughts, or even gone about self employing carers?

[susieq]

I've worked in HR for a long time and I assume the burden of becoming an employer, tax returns, workplace pension etc. Is the stumbling point.

I don't have any personal experience of employing a Care Assistant directly buy yes, the burden of becoming an employer is the main stumbling block - plus you need to factor in cover for when the Care Assistant is off sick or on annual leave.

Hopefully others will be along today who will be able to give you advice from their own experience.

[Chris From The Gulag]

Susie has summed it up in a nutshell.

If you want to explore said possibility further , I will add some links for the full sp on what it means to become an employer.

[Faye_1506]

If it helps - we’ve employed a ‘personal assistant ‘to help my father for over twenty years. He also has carers through a care agency provided by the council.

We used to do all the employment admin ourselves but once they said we also had to offer a pension it got a bit too technical for us. We now pay a charity to do all the employment admin - they don’t charge a lot and is does reduce the workload on us.

Personally I didn’t find the admin that tricky the greater problem was finding cover when they needed annual leave or where off sick.

[MrsAverage]

If going the Direct Payments route just make sure the money is spent on care needs as specified in the Care Plan and not on anything else.
Although Direct payments are supposed to give choice, councils are stamping down and specifying what they can be used for.
For example if the Care Plan says needs help with washing and dressing, you cannot pay a carer to take Mum out for a walk

[Stephen_16071]

Mum is self funding, so no Council involvement. But while I knew this would happen, Mum is burning through money like there is no tomorrow with carer fees. I'm resigned to the fact I will have no inheritance, no roof over my head and no job if anything happens to Mum..

The Carers agency offered to deep clean our house at £19.95 per hour, when one carer turned up early and said she'd do it for half the price, but obviously don't let the agency know..

This put the suggestion in my head, of cutting out the middle man..

[MrsAverage]

Did read something a while back. Try googling self employed personal care assistants