When employing your own carer you are effectively becoming an employer and must follow employment guidelines. Any questions that relate to employment law should always be referred to ACAS (Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service).

You must also take out Personal Liability Insurance, funded annually by the council. The policy should include legal assistance and you should refer to your insurers for advice.

There should always be enough funds in your bank account to cover your care. It is possible that you have not paid your own contribution and funds have run low, there should always be enough funding to cover holiday cover or bank holidays, or you may not have claimed to cover extras such as Statutory Sick Pay. It is also possible that funding may have ended. If you require further information contact us.

This depends on how many days per week they work and if they have been employed prior to the new financial year (1st April). Refer to your payroll provider.

You, as the employer, and your employee should keep track of annual leave taken. Any queries should be directed to your payroll provider who may have this recorded.

Employees should take at least 4 weeks of their entitlement and can carry the remainder over to the next year. For example:

• An employee works 5 days per week and is entitled to 28 days annual leave. 4 weeks at 5 days per week equals minimum 20 days to be taken, and a maximum 8 days can be carried over.
• If an employee works 6 or 7 days per week, their minimum holidays to take would be 24 days (6-day week) or 28 days (7-day week).

Please refer to your payroll provider for further guidance.

All new employees must register with your payroll provider. If you need further advice please contact us.

If you need support to employ a new PA in relation to job descriptions and advertising, contact us to arrange to speak with someone from the team.

You must arrange cover for your employee to take leave. If you are having difficulty finding someone we can offer advice on contingency plans or agency cover. Contact us to request a call back.

Sick leave is paid at Statutory Sick Pay and you can employ another PA to cover this period. If the sickness is long term you may need help with a temporary increase to funding. Please contact us to arrange to speak with someone from the team.

Maternity leave  requires additional funding. Ask your payroll provider for the relevant form to get funding from the HMRC.

PA's must be paid at least the national minimum wage. We can offer guidelines based on the council's funding. Please contact us to arrange to speak with someone from the team.

Only in very exceptional circumstances and this would have to be agreed by Adult Services senior managers. If you wish to explore this please contact your social worker.

Our Benefits Maximisation Service can offer advice on this. You can request a benefits advice referral online.

If the additional hours are a short term measure we will need to confirm if there are sufficient funds available. Contact us and provide the estimated number of weekly additional hours, the number of weeks it is needed for and the reason for the additional hours.

We can arrange a visit if required. Contact us to arrange to speak with someone from the team.

As soon as funding is approved we will contact you to arrange a visit and go through the process.

The process can take up to 60 days when requesting funding and your social worker should contact you with any updates.

You can contact Adult Social Care on 233 3800 to establish if direct payments have been approved.

Please contact us and we will get in touch to confirm the details.

Please contact us to cancel your appointment. Please include the details of the date and time of your scheduled appointment.

These are no longer required. Please add transaction details to your bank statements. If you need further advice please contact us to arrange to speak with someone from the Self-Directed Support Unit.

Your insurer will send you a reminder in advance. You will need to accept to renew and make the payment using funds from the direct payment bank account.

You can only use Direct Payments for things you have specifically been assessed for. You can refer to your social worker for a further assessment.

If in urgent need, you may be eligible to apply for the Liverpool Citizen Support Scheme for a home need or urgent need award.

Contact your payroll service and they can give you this information.

Payments can take up to 2 to 3 weeks to process from the initial visit, especially if it is a new set-up. If it has been longer than 3 weeks contact us to arrange to speak with someone in the team.

You can request to pay funds using a managed account service. If you wish to set this up, we can support you. Contact us to arrange to speak with someone in the team.

We cannot manage your responsibilities as employer - you will continue to be responsible and may want support from a friend or relative to continue to do this.

Please contact Adult Social Care on 233 3800 who will arrange for an assessment to support with this.

Your payroll provider will issue tax return letters each month, in most cases.

You should make the cheque payable to 'HMRC' and record your PAYE reference on the back and send it to HMRC. Some payroll companies offer a service where you can send the cheque to them and they record the payment and forward the cheque on to the HMRC.

You can also pay the HMRC online or at your local bank.