Getting paid

If you go to work as a Personal Assistant (PA) for someone, you may either be employed or self-employed. There's a difference between the two in terms of your rights.

If you are an employee

You're an employee if you work for someone under an employment contract. Employees have extra employment rights.

You can find more information about your rights as an employee on the gov.uk website.

Where your employer is using our Direct Payment Support Service (DPSS) payroll service, you should be paid on a monthly basis. Your employer will complete a timesheet on a paper copy. Your employer should then submit the timesheet to our Payroll Team by no later than the advised submission dates below for you to be paid on time.

Timesheet deadlines

January 2024

• Deadline for timesheet to be sent in: 31 January
• Pay date for your personal assistant: 9 February

February 2024

• Deadline for timesheet to be sent in: 28 February
• Pay date for your personal assistant: 8 March

March 2024

• Deadline for timesheet to be sent in: 27 March
• Pay date for your personal assistant: 10 April

April 2024

• Deadline for timesheet to be sent in: 26 April
• Pay date for your personal assistant: 10 May

May 2024

• Deadline for timesheet to be sent in: 31 May
• Pay date for your personal assistant: 10 June

You should have an employment contract or a statement of particulars. This will advise you of your agreed hours, rates of pay and holiday allowance.

If you do not get paid, or your pay is incorrect, you will need to speak directly to your employer. Your employer can then contact us if they need any assistance.

Tax and National Insurance

You'll pay income tax and National Insurance on your wages through the PAYE system.

You can earn a certain amount of income each year, called your personal allowance, before you need to pay any income tax.

The GOV.UK website has more information about taxes.

Pensions

The law states that employers must automatically enrol their employees into a workplace pension scheme.

You'll pay into the scheme and so will your boss once you're enrolled.

You may also get tax relief from the government. You can opt out of the pension scheme, but you'll lose the employer and government contributions.

You can find out more about how this will work on the Department for Work and Pensions website.

Self-employed

You would be self-employed if you work for yourself, taking responsibility for your own successes and failures. Self-employed workers aren't paid through PAYE and you don't have the same rights as employees.

However, you still have protection for health and safety and, in some cases, protection against discrimination. You'll also have rights and responsibilities set out in the terms of the contract you have with your client. The gov.uk website can tell you more about your employment rights as a self-employed person.

When providing a service to one of our Direct Payment customers, they will ask you for an invoice. Your employer will then either pay using a banking portal, or they will pass onto our DPSS invoice team, and we will make the payment on their behalf. All invoices must be address to the person who has agreed your services and not to Norfolk County Council, as we are only acting as an agent for the them.

In order to make a payment, we will require the following information on your invoice:

• Name of agency or self-employed worker, their address, telephone number and email address
• Name of person the invoice is addressed too. This may also include the care of "service user name" if they are not the person who signed the terms and conditions
• Refence number
• Services delivered
• Cost of services, day and hours worked
• Bank details of self-employed worker or agency

DPSS invoice service will pay invoices within five to ten working days of receiving the invoice. There may be a delay if we need to speak to your employer prior to issuing payment.

Tax and National Insurance

Find more information on National Insurance rates on the GOV.UK website.

You're entitled to the same tax-free personal allowance as an employee - see the section above for details.

Pensions

You're not required by law to be part of a workplace pension scheme and it's up to you to start a pension if you wish to do so.

Pension saving an important consideration if you're self-employed.

They can come with some unique benefits, including:

• Pension tax relief
• Favourable inheritance tax implications
• More control what to do with your pension savings at retirement age

Find out more about State pensions and Personal pensions on the gov.uk website.