01942 233323

01942 233323

PA Referral – Self Funders

Help finding a PA for individuals and families.

Information and Support for Self Funders

If you have savings above £23,250, you may need to pay for your own social care. You can still employ Personal Assistants; it just means that you will pay their salary out of your own money. People who fund their own personal assistants are often referred to as Self-Funders.

Self-Funders are still required to abide by employment law. Although, Self-Funders pay for their own care, they can still access assistant from social care.

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To access support from Wigan’s Direct Payments Team, a social care assessment is required.

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Once you have met with a social worker, they will refer you to the Direct Payments Team. The Direct Payments Team will support with aspects of becoming an employer, including signposting you to payroll service providers, contracts of employment, insurance providers and the DBS process. A payroll provider will produce payslips for your Personal Assistants and calculate any deductions required such as tax/national insurance. Please note this does not take away your responsibility as an employer but minimises the work you need to do.

Should you choose to employ a personal assistant you become responsible for organising your support and the associated responsibilities of becoming an employer which include the following:

  • Arranging rotas
  • Keeping records of the hours your PA(s) work, holidays taken or any sickness
  • Reporting to your payroll provider the hours your PA(s) have worked and of any changes in pay rates
  • Ensuring wages are correct and paid on time
  • Managing holidays and finding cover
  • Maternity Pay/Paternity Pay
  • Contracts of employment and job descriptions
  • Dealing with disciplinary matters i.e. Poor time keeping

If you would prefer to arrange your support without input from social care, but still want assistance with Payroll and Insurance you can do this.

There are a variety of different Payroll providers, you can look around for one that is best for you. An example of a payroll service commonly used in Wigan is Disability Direct. They offer a variety of ways to manage your payroll.

You can choose from the following accounts:

  • Standard Payroll – Disability Direct will process payroll and advise on payments
  • Managed Payroll – Disability Direct will process payroll and make payments on the individual employer’s behalf
  • Managed Agency – Disability Direct will pay invoices on the individual employer’s behalf

Disability Direct can assist with employer’s insurance and currently use a company by the name of Surewise. Their sister company, Bluesky Brothers, can support with contracts of employment and the DBS process.

For further information and details regarding the associated costs contact Disability Direct on 01332 293612, email accounts@ddpayroll or visit their website by clicking on the following link:

Other insurance companies are available one company commonly used by Direct Payment holders in Wigan is Mark Bates LTD. You can find out more about this below: 

If you would like more information about being a Self-Funder please feel free to give us a call on 01942 23323.

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