Q: What are my responsibilities as an employer?
A: When you employ a carer in the UK you take on a host of responsibilities. For example, you have to draw up an employment contract with your employee within 2 months of their starting date and you must also give your carer a payslip every time they get paid.

You are required to set up a PAYE scheme with HMRC, make the correct deductions from your carer's gross pay, and pay Tax and National Insurance Contributions to HMRC on a regular basis.

By law you must have employer’s liability insurance cover of at least £5 million, and you must also ensure that you pay your carer at least the National Minimum Wage or above. In addition you need to have a good understanding of the basics of employment law and statutory entitlements.

Aside from the employer's liability insurance, Enable Payroll can help with all of the above - and much more! Read more about the Enable Payroll service.

Q: Can my carer be self-employed?
A: In most cases, a carer would not meet HMRC's criteria for self-employment, although there are exceptions. Read more about self-employment and how to determine employment status.

Q: Net or gross wage agreements: what's the difference?
A: At Enable Payroll, we would strongly advise all service users to make a gross wage agreement with their carer as this will protect your total employment costs.

The net wage is the amount your carer gets paid in their pocket or bank account each pay day. The gross wage is your carer's net pay plus income tax plus employee's National Insurance contributions.

Read more about net and gross pay and how a net wage agreement could seriously damage your wealth.

Q: How do I calculate how much holiday my carer is entitled to?
A: All employees in the UK are entitled to a minimum of 5.6 weeks paid holiday per year. So if your carer works 5 days per week, they are entitled to 28 days holiday per year.

If your carer works part-time they are entitled to a pro-rata equivalent. Their annual entitlement can be calculated by multiplying the number of days they work per week by 5.6. For example, a carer working 2 days a week would accrue 11.2 days holiday per year:

2 x 5.6 = 11.2 

If your carer works a different number of hours each week, please see the Q&A directly below. For more information on holiday entitlement, including examples of calculations for part-time and temporary workers, please refer to the holiday entitlement page.

Q: My carer works variable hours, how do I calculate their holiday entitlement?
A: If your carer works a different number of hours each week, it is better to calculate their holiday entitlement in hours rather than days. To calculate their entitlement, average their weekly working hours over the previous 12 weeks and multiply the average by 5.6. For example, if your carer has worked a total of 192 hours over the last 12 weeks, their yearly holiday entitlement would be 89.6 hours, calculated as follows:

192 / 12 = 16 x 5.6 = 89.6 hours

If you need any help calculating holiday entitlement please contact us.

Q: My carer is pregnant - what do I do?
A: If your carer becomes pregnant you have a duty to administer Statutory Maternity Pay on her behalf, provided she is eligible. To be entitled to receive SMP, your carer cannot be pregnant when she starts her employment with you. She qualifies for SMP if she has been in the same employment for 26 weeks (i.e. six months) prior to the "notification week". The "notification week" is 15 weeks before the baby's due date.

As a small, domestic employer you can usually reclaim all the SMP costs from the state. Your carer should provide you with a Maternity Certificate (MATB1) for this purpose. This is issued 20 weeks before the baby's due date and your carer can ask their doctor or midwife for it.

At Enable Payroll, we will ensure that things run as smoothly as possible and can claim the maternity pay for you in advance to make sure you're not unnecessarily out of pocket.

Your carer is entitled to up to 39 weeks SMP and a further 13 weeks of unpaid maternity leave before returning to work. Please refer to the Statutory Maternity Pay page for more information. The current SMP rate is published on the Rates and Thresholds page.

Q: My carer is ill - can he get sick pay?
A: Provided your carer earns over the Lower Earnings Limit (please refer to Rates and Thresholds page for the LEL rate) and has been sick for four or more days in a row, then he is entitled to Statutory Sick Pay. For more information, please refer to the Statutory Sick Pay page. The current SSP rate is published on the Rates and Thresholds page.

As a small, domestic employer you are entitled to Small Employer's Relief, which means you can claim back a proportion of the SSP paid. If you use Enable Payroll we will calculate and apply the current formula on your behalf. SSP is claimed back by a deduction from your National Insurance contribution liability for the quarter in which the absence due to illness occurred. This means that your payments to HMRC will be reduced for that quarter.

If you have any other questions, please contact Enable Payroll on tel: 0845 226 2213 or email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it