Advice about setting up a private contract with a trusted carer

All about caring
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Nuts and bolts of a Care Contract

Hi all

We buy care for my mother who is in her mid 90s and has lost her short-term memory. We have a live-in carer through one company and we buy cover for the carers break through another company that has just announced that it will stop operating. We would like to take on some of those carers privately. I have some questions about the nuts and bolts of setting up a suitable contract with trusted carers who will be self employed and registered with HMRC for tax and have liability insurance.

  1. I would have thought that it is best that the contract is between the carer and one of the family (perhaps me) who has Living Power of Attourny. The contract proposed contract suggested by the carer currently has Mum as the client and signatory. There wouldn’t be any issue setting up the contractual relationship with a Living Power of Attourny would there? Mum would happily agree to this.
  2. Has anybody got any examples they could share?

Many thanks

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If mum has lost her short term memory she is probably unable to enter into a legally binding contract. The person with Power of Attorney is responsible. Have you made provision for holidays, sickness etc.? Is this privately funded? Is mum claiming highest Attendance Allowance? Exemption from Council Tax dur to SMI, Severe Mental Impairment?

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Hi @MadeInBrighton Carers UK has a page about this topic that might be helpful to you. Try here: Employing a care worker directly | Carers UK

As for the legal aspects, I’d look at the ACAS website: Advice | Acas

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Thanks BowlingBun. Yes - I will go ahead and change the proposed contract to be signed by us and ensure that it includes communication with the family rather than just being a contract with the ‘client’. To answer your questions: 1. Holiday and sickness ect won’t apply because they will be self employed. We will ensure that they have accounts with HMRC & Liability Insurance ect. 2. Yes privately funded. Mum is lucky to have the funds. 3. We are in the process of applying for attendance allowance. She has had care for about 4 years now so we are late doing this! 5. Exemption from Council Tax due to SMI and being a single occupier (with a carer). Brighton Council Council Tax have be dreadful and have not allowed this with 8 months of trying. We have discovered that having Attendance Allowance will make it more difficult to refuse this. My parent have paid their rates and council tax in Brighton for nearly 60 years - I would expect better now Mum is without Dad (Sorry - I am sounding off here, rather than making a point that needs an answer!). Thanks again for taking the time to answer.

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Hi Charles47. Thanks for taking the time to reply. Your make link is nearly relevant, but not quite. The contract that I am trying to improve (in negotiation with the trusted Carers who are losing their jobs) is one for self-employed carers rather than us employing them as employers. As such things like holiday cover, and some of the other employer responsibilities are not relevant. It also means that ACAS won’t be a relevant source of information.

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The rules have changed in recent years, to only grant exemption if claiming Attendance Allowance I’m afraid. However, if mum had dementia before this rule applied, there is a slim chance you could get it, but would probably need someone to represent you.

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Thanks BowlingBun - very helpful once again. I don’t want to go back in time so that’s fine, but it would have been super helpful had the Council Tax Team replied to emails and be helpful enough to tell me about the Attendance Allowance 9 months earlier. I will get the attendance allowance form over the line and reapply for the single person Council Tax once more.

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I have had to explain to the council in the past. Whenever anyone mentions dementia or strokes (which are a Severe Mental Impairment too) I routinely ask if they know the rules? On a coach trip in Majorca a man and his wife got on the coach, I could see that he was struggling. Later that day, I asked his wife if she knew, which she didn’t. I explained that it’s an exemption not benefit so as her husband was already claiming PIP or AA she could apply for a refund. She was overjoyed, it was going to be thousands!

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So I don’t actually know about the SMI exemption nor if Mum would be allowed to claim it. She is pretty good for 93 years old, but can’t remember what happen yesterday, or even a few moments ago. My father died a year ago and she has confided in a friend that it saddens her that she can remember anything about his death or even much about his illness. She has no concept of time, something that happened a year ago she will think was just weeks ago, and similarly weeks are thought of as days. But I can still have a lovely conversation with her, she has a good sense of humour and never complains. She normally makes good decisions, especially if I am there to explain the reasons. So there is no paranoia. Could you point me in the right direction. In particular I don’t want to waste anyone’s time if this is means tested. Mum is lucky enough to have sufficient funds to see her out comfortably.

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If you contact the council, they will send you a form asking who mum’s doctor is. They then write to the doctor for an opinion.