Syed is a personal assistant (PA) for Louise and also has caring responsibilities for his son, Abdul, who has severe learning disabilities. Syed receives no financial payment for caring for his son and is his unpaid carer.
Usually, Abdul attends and receives support from day centres. Given these day centres have temporarily stopped running, meaning Abdul can’t attend, Syed is now providing more care to Abdul than he previously did.
Syed is therefore temporarily unable to continue to deliver care and support for Louise. Louise and Syed discuss this and decide that the best course of action is for Louise to apply to the CJRS on behalf of Syed. The application is successful, meaning Syed will continue to receive a wage, while also enabling him to fulfil his unpaid caring responsibilities at home. To ensure Louise continues to receive the support she requires in Syed’s absence, she contacts Barry, a PA who used to work for her. Barry, who is familiar with Louise’s needs, agrees to provide temporary cover for Syed until he’s able to return to work.
It is expected that these scenarios will not frequently occur.
Using the CJRS if the direct payment holder doesn’t want their PA entering their home during the coronavirus crisis
Some direct payment holders may not want their PA or paid care worker to continue to provide care and support during this time. Eligibility for the CJRS will depend on each different circumstance, but the following examples are included, which do not cover all of those situations:
Example
John has a direct payment and uses that to employ Emily as a part-time PA. Recently, John has received a shielding letter.
Previously, Emily supported John to access community classes, exercise and visit the supermarket. Given John has now been advised to shield, some of this is now not possible. Furthermore, given John is susceptible to infection, he would prefer that Emily doesn’t enter the home, to minimise the risk to him. John also believes some of the tasks that Emily did support him with in his house could be done temporarily by family members who live with him. John therefore decides that using the CJRS would not be appropriate in this instance. He therefore continues to pay Emily her full wage, despite Emily not providing the usual care and support during this period. John’s family members voluntarily provide the care and support that Emily usually would, without pay. Emily has also heard of another direct payment holder, Lamar, who would like some temporary additional PA support and has the funds in his budget to do this. Emily therefore provides Lamar with this care and support on a temporary basis, until John would like her to return to employment.
Example
Brett has a direct payment and uses that to employ Nazeen as a part-time PA. Recently, Brett has also received a shielding letter from the NHS and has been categorised as ‘high risk’.
Nazeen is usually employed to provide Brett with personal care in his house. Given Brett’s categorisation, he would prefer Nazeen not to provide him with personal care for the time being. Instead he would prefer his brother, Oliver, to provide that for him to reduce any risk of transmission.
Oliver is happy to do this for Brett ‒ he already provides Brett with a lot of unpaid care and support. However, for the extra work, Oliver would like to be paid a contribution to do it.
Brett agrees to this, on the basis that he is comfortable with Oliver, and knows that he mostly stays in the house, which reduces the risk of transmitting COVID-19.
Brett’s LA have given him the flexibility to use his budget in a way that meets his needs and keeps him safe. However, the budget does not allow for full pay to Nazeen and Oliver.
The Chartered Institute of Payroll Professionals
Payroll: need to know
cipp.org.uk
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