Employing a PA with a Direct Payment: the complete employer checklist

This guide is for the direct-employment model: the person receiving the Direct Payment recruits the PA, agrees the work and pays them as an employee. The council provides or administers the funding, but it does not become the employer. A payroll bureau can run PAYE, but it does not approve timesheets or make employment decisions.

Do not describe a PA as self-employed simply because that appears easier. Employment status depends on the real arrangement, including who controls the work, whether the person must provide the work personally and who carries financial risk. Use HMRC's status checker or obtain advice before treating a regular PA as self-employed.

Turn the assessed support need into a clear job. State the duties, usual location, expected days or availability, proposed pay, whether driving is required and which tasks need training. Avoid collecting medical or personal information about applicants unless it is relevant and lawful.

• —Confirm the Direct Payment budget covers wages and the associated employer costs identified by the funding body.
• —Ask the council which recruitment, payroll, insurance, DBS, PVG or AccessNI support it funds or commissions.
• —Choose a payroll provider and work backwards from its first-payday cut-off.
• —Prepare a job description, person specification, application process and consistent interview questions.
• —Decide where recruitment records and identity evidence will be stored securely.

The first payday is too late to discover that the employer has not registered for PAYE or collected the starter information. HMRC says an employer must register before the first payday and cannot register more than two months before starting to pay staff.

A dependable monthly or four-weekly routine prevents most last-minute problems. Set dates once and give them to the PA in writing.

• —The PA records actual start and finish times, unpaid breaks, leave and authorised expenses.
• —The PA submits by the internal cut-off, leaving time for questions before payroll closes.
• —The employer compares the submission with the agreed arrangement and resolves exceptions.
• —The employer approves one final version and sends only that version to payroll.
• —Payroll returns the payslip and employer reports; the employer checks the source hours and files the outputs with the period.
• —Any correction records what changed, why, who authorised it and whether payroll had already filed the FPS.

Some duties occur less often than payroll and are easy to miss. Put the dates in one calendar rather than relying on memory.

• —Every payday: ensure the payroll provider has submitted the Full Payment Submission on or before payday.
• —Each tax month: pay HMRC by the provider's stated deadline and resolve payroll queries.
• —Each leave year: confirm the opening entitlement, record leave and deal with valid carry-over.
• —By 31 May: ensure every employee still employed on 5 April receives a P60.
• —At the insurer's renewal: renew cover and replace the displayed certificate.
• —At pension re-enrolment and declaration dates: follow The Pensions Regulator's notices.
• —At the council review date: provide the agreed funding and employment evidence through the approved channel.

Payroll calculations, disputed employment status, dismissal, redundancy, discrimination, long-term sickness and changes to contractual hours can create legal or financial consequences. Record the facts, pause the decision where possible and use the payroll provider, Acas, insurer's legal helpline or qualified adviser.

Direct Payments HR organises the employment workflow and evidence. It does not decide whether spending is eligible, calculate payroll or make legal decisions for the employer.