Care sector - New sector specific employment status guidance available!
Long-awaited and much-needed new guidance has been issued, exploring how Personal Assistant employment status works in the context of care and support, whether self-funded or through the use of Direct Payments.
In recent years, the care sector has seen a marked increase in the number of Personal Assistants (PAs) operating on a self-employed basis. Previous work by the National Direct Payment Forum highlighted the risk that some of this self-employment may be false – where individuals are treated as self-employed when they should, in fact, be employees.
The publication “Personal Assistant employment status: A guide to support good practice” – the culmination of several years of collaboration between organisations across the care sector – seeks to address this issue.
LITRG were pleased to contribute technical expertise to the project, including the development of case studies that explore how employment status tests apply in practice – an area where there continues to be limited official HMRC guidance.
Determining employment status can be challenging at the best of times, but it is particularly complex in the care sector. Part of this is because the working relationship between a PA and the person they support is often more personal and interdependent than in other sectors, where the boundaries between engager/worker may be more clearly defined.
The guidance uses practical case studies to bring key concepts – such as substitution, control and financial risk – to life in this setting. These examples aim to make otherwise abstract principles more accessible and to support stakeholders in understanding their responsibilities and achieving compliance.
The report is available on the Think Local Act Personal website.
