How do I pay for my Personal Assistant

This section will support you on how to fund your Personal Assistant, and how to financially support them to develop any skills required to offer a better quality of care.

Direct Payment Support

What are direct payments?

A direct payment is when your personal budget is paid directly to you to buy your own care and support in line with your assessed needs.

It allows you to have more choice and control over your life by enabling you to make decisions about how your care is delivered.

The following must be paid for from your direct payment:

• The employee's pay.
• Employee tax.
• Holiday pay (each staff member is legally entitled to 5.6 weeks per year, which the direct payment will fund within the hourly rate payable).
• Employers’ liability insurance. We allow up to a maximum of £90.00 per year to be paid from the direct payment account for this. We can make a one-off payment to fund this insurance for the first year only, if necessary. In later years, the renewal cost should be building up from the Personal Assistant rate that is paid. You must ensure that you purchase this every year.
• Cost of a payroll service unless you are doing your own payroll.

You may also have to pay:

• Employers’ national insurance contributions. This applies when your employee is earning above a certain amount.
• Workplace pension contributions, if applicable.
• Direct payments cannot be spent on anything that is not covered by your care and support plan.

 
Further Direct Payment financial support:

The local authority offers further financial support for Individual Employers who receive a direct payment.

The additional financial support can cover the following:

• Employer liability insurance (maximum) per year
• Advice and guidance for personal assistant
• Specialist recruitment fee (on request)
• Recruitment not linked to initial package set up
• DBS (on request)
• Payroll
• Additional support for any of the above services
• Managed account fee

For more information or to see how much you can be funded click the link below, and look for the heading Direct payment support provider rates.

Click here to be redirected to the Direct payment support provider rates page.

Self-funders

A self-funder is someone who has been financially assessed as being able to pay for all of their care themselves.

You will be required to fund all aspects of the related costs and the costs of the personal assistant or communicator guide, if you still require one.

If you need help with paying for care you will need to have a care and support assessment. This assessment applies national rules to see if you have care needs which make you eligible for care and support.

The amount of money that we can then pay towards the cost of your care depends on your financial situation.

If you would like to check if you are likely to have to pay towards any care services you receive through us, you can use our financial eligibility checker.

The checker provides a rough estimate. If you are confirmed eligible for care, we'll require a financial assessment to see who covers the cost. You can complete this yourself, with family or representatives, or with assistance from our team.

For more information, please visit -  Adult Social Care fees and charges website.

Funding for Training

Individual Employer Funding

• Individual Employer Funding is run by Skills for Care. This allows individual employers to seek funds for their own training and that of their personal assistants.
• This funding is currently available for the 2024/25 period and can be used for various expenses such as enhancing your capabilities as an employer, direct costs associated with training or qualifications, paying for temporary replacements while regular PAs are in training, and travel.
• You are allowed to apply for a maximum of five courses per individual, and further applications are allowed upon completion.

Click this link to be redirected to the Skills for Care website to find out more.

User Led Organisation Funding

Skills for Care have successfully awarded organisations to deliver training.

These training courses are fully funded and have been designed by people with lived experience specifically to be suitable for individual employers and personal assistants and for the first time.

you can access the list of providers through Kingston Centre for Independent Living (KCIL) website. The list is split by regional areas and also details the delivery method for example face to face or online.

Click here to view the training courses.