Direct Payments (D.P.) Important items to remember:

 

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If you decide to go on Direct Payments (D.P.) please take note that you understand what it involves and what records you need to keep whether you decide to operate the D. P. yourself or involve a Payroll company to operate D. P. for you. Remember it’s your choice.

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If you decide to go on Direct Payments (D. P.),  you will have to get in touch with your Social Worker for an assessment of your care needs or care package.

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You will find the Social Workers based at:

Merton Adult Access Team

Merton Civic Centre

London Road

Morden SM4 5DX

Tel: 020-8545-4430

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They should explain all about Direct Payments to you in plain English.

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So let’s say that you decided to do your own Direct Payments Payroll yourself.

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Please take note of the following:

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• You will have to register as an Employer

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• You will need Employers Liability Insurance. (FISH INSURANCE, 2-4 RIVERSWAY BUSINESS VILLAGE, NAVIGATION WAY, PRESTON, PR2 2YP, TEL: 01772724442/FAX: 01772733773).

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• Employ a Personal Assistant or Carer/s. (You can advertise in the local paper or anywhere of your choice be it the library or local shops. The D. P. Team will help you with the advertising.)​ When you advertise you will have people ringing up enquiring about the job. You will need to send out application forms, shortlist the candidates, and arrange interviews. The D. P. Team will help you with this. Interviews will have to be arranged and the D. P. Team will help you with the interviewing but it will be up to you to select the person that you want.

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• Now you have employed your P. A. or Carers, the next steps...

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• You will have to ask the new employee for their details such as their P45, their address, telephone number, and bank details. 

• P45 from their last job.

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• You will have to decide whether you will be paying your Personal Assistant or Carers on a weekly or monthly basis.

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• Ensure your P. A. or Carer reads and fully understands the contract of employment, once they have read it and they understood it, then both of you agree that everything is correct and then you both sign it.

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• Make sure you give a copy to your P. A./Carer and keep a copy on file for yourself. Furthermore, you can give one to the D. P. Team to keep on file.

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• So now your next step is Timesheets, as you will need to keep records of your P. A. or Carers time when they are with you. When you do the timesheet make sure that your P. A. or Carer Sign the Time Sheet and also give a copy to them.

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• LBM may want to check these timesheets from time to time and you will also need to keep records of them in hard copies.

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• Make sure you keep a copy of your Bank Statement on file for yourself and you can get a statement whenever you want from the Council if you want one.

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• This may seem a lot of work in the beginning and it is, but when you have it all set up it gets much easier as you go along.

 

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Please remember that you have to keep records of everything for THREE-SEVEN YEARS FOR THE INLAND REVENUE (H.M.R.C.)

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Finally, remember it’s your choice if you decide to go on Direct Payments (D.P.) but if you feel that later on that you can’t carry on doing this yourself you can ask to come off Direct Payments. The D.P. Team will be there to help you with any problems that may arise from time to time regarding Direct Payments.

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DIRECT PAYMENTS IS A GOOD WAY OF TAKING CONTROL OF YOUR LIFE AND BEEN MORE INDEPENDENT WITH HOW YOU CAN LEAD YOUR LIFE IN SOCIETY.