Employing carer privately vs agency

[JasperC]

Hello,

my Mum has MND and my sisters and I are trying to organise her care. It's a complicated situation as our Dad has dementia and can only be of limited help. Ideally we would provide this care ourselves, but my sisters have young families and I live abroad.

We have been using an agency for day care, and Mum really likes one of the carers and wants us to employ her privately as live-in care as her needs increase. There seem to be pros and cons of staying with an agency versus employing carers privately, so would be great to hear from other people's experiences.

Lots of questions (sorry!):

1. is it best for the carer to be registered as self-employed or to be employed by my parents?
2. what kind of insurance might we need if we employ her, and are there any recommended providers?
3. any idea of standard rates of pay for privately hired carer?
4. working schedules: one week on, one off?
5. how can we get training for her re equipment? (She can manage the PEG, but has never used hoists, etc.)

Thanks in advance,

jasper

(P.S. Have posted this also in the care thread.)

[Barry52]

Hello Jasper,

This is a complicated subject as there are many issues involved i.e. employment laws, financial implications and tax and benefits. I looked into this recently for my area and I assume most county councils have similar website information. Do a search under personal assistant on the council website where your mum lives.

https://www.nottshelpyourself.org.uk/kb5/nottinghamshire/directory/results.page?qt=Personal+assistant+&newdirectorychannel=0&term=&sorttype=relevance