6: Employing people, using self-employed staff, using agencies or organisations

A: Right I’ve been offered direct payments to buy the support I need. I’m thinking about the different ways to get support. I’ve been told you can employ people yourself, use self-employed people or use an agency or organisation. But I’m not sure what the best option is for me.

B: Yes that’s right, those are the 3 main ways to use direct payments to get human support. There are different levels of responsibility for you and the people who support you depending on which option you chose.

A: OK so if I decide to employ people myself, what does that mean?

B: Yes, employing people yourself can give you the most control over the kind of support you receive. Employing people also means you become an employer so you will have a number of responsibilities. 

A: Responsibilities! I might need to think about that.

B: Well, it is a decision that you should think about but there are deafblind people and families who successfully employ staff themselves. There are some things you should do to make it more likely that things will go well.

The first one is that you should be clear about what you will be the role of your support staff. You could write a job description and personal specification for the role. The job description covers tasks and duties that you expect staff to carry out. The personal specification says what skills, knowledge and experience you would like staff to have.

Secondly, make sure you are fulfilling your obligations as an employer. Think about a number of things, such as a contract, tax issues and National Insurance contributions. Then there’s holiday pay, sick pay, maternity and paternity leave of course. You will also need to make sure you have the right insurance and are managing risks for yourself, the people you employ and those around you.

A: Ok thanks so what about self-employed workers? How is that different to employing people myself?

B: Well self-employed workers agree to work a number of hours for you, but will not be employed by anyone. Now this means that they have to manage a lot of their own administration. This can be a positive for you as it means you’ll have to do less paperwork. And it also means you are both free to end it. Remember to do this:

Firstly, check if they have an Individual Tax Reference number. If they do, that means they can be self-employed.
 
Secondly be very clear that you are using them on a self-employed basis rather than employing them yourself.

A: So what administrative tasks do they have to do?

B: yes, they have to pay their own tax contributions and National Insurance contributions, as well as organise for their own liability insurance.

A: So I’m free from any responsibilities? Great!

B: No not exactly! You will still need to manage them while they’re working for you and ensure that they are working in a safe environment.

A: OK so I guess using an agency or organisation means I’m pretty free of any admin responsibilities. Do you think it might be a good idea for me to ask an agency to provide me with the support I need?

B: Well you’re right, if you use an agency or organisation, they do all the admin for their staff. However using an agency can mean you have less choice about when you receive support and indeed who supports you. I think it’s important to talk to the different agencies in your area that could provide support to meet your needs and see what kind of service they could potentially offer you. Find out how much each agency costs. I would also say that in some areas there may not be much choice of agencies with staff with the right skills. You might want to ask these questions:

The first might whether they can provide you with the same staff each time. That might be important to you. Secondly, what training do they give their staff? Also, how they check their staff and the quality of service they provide? How do they manage staff absence? Are they registered with the Care Quality Commission? What about their latest inspection rating in terms of the quality of service they provide?

You should still make sure that the working environment is safe for agency workers. That’s important too.

A: I was wondering whether I could combine these different options. For example, I’d like to employ some people myself for some of the time and then use agency or freelance workers for more short notice support.

B: Yes that’s an interesting idea. It should be possible to use your direct payments in this way. But you’ll have to make sure that the direct payments cover the cost of purchasing support in different ways.