What is Employers Liability Insurance and what can your policy offer you?
If you are an individual employer of personal assistants (PAs) or you are thinking about employing a PA, it is important to remember that employment law still applies.
For example, you need to pay staff according to HMRC rules and regulations, potentially offer staff a workplace pension and make financial contributions. You also need to check staff are eligible to work in the UK, treat staff fairly and take into account their statutory employment rights.
Fortunately there is support available from your local DP support team, payroll provider and insurer to help you manage these responsibilities.
Just as important as the legal requirements mentioned above is the need to develop a good working relationship with your PA.
Below is some essential guidance to help you get started:
Recruitment
Every employer needs to recruit at some stage and finding the right person for the job can make all the difference.
Remember…;
Try to avoid…;
Rule Setting
Once you have recruited the right person for the job it is important to make them aware of the way you work and how you like things to be done e.g. what should they do in the event they are going to be late for a shift?
You must also issue your PA with a written employment contract from the first day of employment. This document should detail the main terms and conditions of their employment, rates of pay, hours of work etc.
In some cases you may wish to issue an employee handbook with more detailed information about you and the job. Mark Bates Ltd have partnered with ILG Support (the UKs only legal advice service designed exclusively for individual employers) who can provide employee handbooks and associated documentation to support our policy holders. ILG Support have also put together template contracts of employment which can completed and e-mailed directly to your PA via our new employer hub.
Ongoing Management
The ongoing management of staff can be tricky. Below are some top tips to remember:
Employer’s Liability Insurance for individual employers
Employer’s liability (EL) cover is there to protect you should any of your employees seek compensation as a result of an injury at work. It is a legal requirement to have EL insurance in the UK if you employ staff.
Very few insurance providers in the UK have policies tailored to suit people employing staff to support them to live independently. Fortunately the Home Employment (HE) policy from Mark Bates Ltd does exactly that.
Primarily designed for people in receipt of Direct Payments employing PAs, but also suitable for self-funders, the HE policy provides much more than simply employer’s liability alone…..
Key benefits of the Home Employment policy include;
For more information about the Home Employment Policy from Mark Bates Ltd, please click here or contact us on 01476 514478.
If you are a Mark Bates Ltd policy holder in need of legal advice please see contact details for ILG Support below or visit our website for more information by clicking here.
Tel:01476 512 192