You can choose to employ your own personal assistant (or several personal assistants) to provide your direct payment care and support.

Recruiting a personal assistant

Our Direct Payments Team can provide guidance if you need any help with the recruitment process.

What you should do to find suitable candidates

  • Write a job description and/or specification which details what tasks the personal assistant will be expected to do. 
  • Write a job advert (at this stage of the process this should not identify who you are or where you live). 
  • Interview potential candidates
  • Write an employment contract which includes:
    • Rate of pay
    • What the personal assistant’s roles and responsibilities will be
    • What your roles and responsibilities will be as the employer
    • What training may be required
    • Annual leave, sick leave, and unplanned time off work arrangements
    • Notice periods

You should be able to request contract template documents from your insurance company that can be updated to suit your needs.

How can I advertise the job? 

You can add a job vacancy on WeCare Wales.

WeCare Wales: Submit a job (external link)

You can then promote the job listing yourself. You could do this via social media (such as Facebook) and through local schools or community centres.

Our Direct Payments Team can help you with setting out an initial job advert, and calculating the rate of pay for your personal assistant.

What to consider when arranging an interview

We recommend that you:

  • ask for references of previous employment.
  • do not interview any potential personal assistants in your own home (you could choose a local community centre or café instead).
  • do not interview alone if at all possible. 
  • have a set list of interview questions to follow. 

Arrange a (Disclosure and Barring Service) DBS check

You should request an enhanced with barred list(s) DBS check before any personal assistant you employ starts in the role.

GOV.UK: About the Disclosure and Barring Service (external link)

Request a DBS check in Wrexham

In Wrexham, AVOW requests DBS checks on our behalf. To request a DBS check, email kate.davies@avow.org with the following information: 

  • Your name and phone number
  • Name of the person who needs a DBS check
  • The role of the person who needs a DBS check
  • Contact details for the person requiring a DBS check
  • Confirmation of whether the role covers children and/or adults
  • Confirmation of whether the person is registered with the update service

Our Direct Payments Team can provide guidance if you need any help with the recruitment process, email the team at directpayments@wrexham.gov.uk.

Payroll

If you are employing a personal assistant, you should pay them using a payroll service – even if they are a close friend or family member.

Why should I use a payroll service?

Money spent while using a direct payment service have to be auditable. Payments to your personal assistant are subject to financial regulations and legislation including: National Insurance, tax payments, National Minimum Wage. 

A payroll provider makes sure that your personal assistant gets their salary on time, with the correct deductions and any necessary withholdings. 

If you are unsure about how to choose a payroll service you can email the team at directpayments@wrexham.gov.uk for guidance.

If I am in the process of setting up a payroll service but my personal assistant has not been paid yet, can I transfer their first wage payment to them?

No. All payments need to go via your chosen payroll provider to make sure your personal assistant is not being accidentally paid twice for the same period of time.

If you were to pay your personal assistant directly, any necessary deductions will not have been taken into account at that stage.

Can I pay cash-in-hand?

You should never pay your personal assistant cash-in-hand for any care and support provided.

Timesheets

You will be expected to submit a timesheet to your payroll provider to let them know how many hours your personal assistant has worked. This can be for any given period of time. 

Your payroll provider will then complete the necessary calculations and make the payment.

About your responsibilities as an employer