Virtual Wallet Update
Our website will be changing in September with a fresh design and a new route into our PPL direct payment portal, which includes Virtual Wallet. Further information is available here.
Introduction
Your case manager will have discussed with you the options available when looking to meet your identified health needs. This information will have been used to calculate the amount of funding you will receive.
Where it has been identified that you require some form of personal support, the most popular ways of meeting this goal is either instructing the services of a care agency, or employing your own Personal Assistant (PA).
Each type of support offers different benefits and the way in you which you choose to receive your support will determine how much input and management is required from you. More information on both agency support and employing personal assistants can be found in the sections below.
Support from care agencies
Receiving support from a care agency can often be the most straightforward way of meeting your care needs.
As the budget owner or authorised representative, you are able to choose from any registered care agency in your area that can help to meet your identified health needs, within the budget allocated to you.
You may already know which care agency you wish to work with, but if you require support understanding which are agencies are available to you, please speak to your Independent Living Advisor.
The benefits of receiving support from a care agency
If you choose to receive support from a care agency, it is the care agency's responsibility to find a suitably qualified individual to provide support to you. The care agency will be the employer and they will:
- Produce an invoice each period for the support that has been provided
- Obtain insurance for their workers and complete all appropriate safeguarding checks
- Be registered with an appropriate supervisory organisation, e.g. CQC
- Manage salary and payroll
- Be responsible for employment rights like holiday and sick pay
- Sort out any issues, i.e. misconduct or performance issues
- Send a replacement if the allocated individual is ill
- Have a pool of individuals to provide 24-hour care
Other considerations when receiving support from a care agency
Whilst receiving support from an agency can often be a more simple way to meet your care needs, there are some other considerations to take into account. These include:
- Whilst the carer that the agency sends should always be suitably qualified, the agency may not always be able to send the same individual each day. If consistency and familiarity with the carer is important to you, it is vital that you discuss this with the agency and make them aware.
- As the agency may not be able to send the same carer each day, there could be some variation in how the individual completes tasks and supports you. Whilst the support they deliver will be in line with your support plan, if you have particular concerns around how tasks are completed, it is important that you discuss this with the agency and make them aware.
- Whilst the agency will agree to deliver a set number of hours of support, they may not always be able to guarantee to come at a set time. If you have specific or set requirements, it is important you discuss this with the agency and make them aware.
Arranging support with a care agency
Arranging for a care agency to provide support to you is a straightforward process. However, it is important that you ask certain questions and obtain some assurances from the care agency to ensure the support they provide is safe, and in line with your expectations.
Follow steps 1 to 4 below to read more about the process:
You may have already discussed with your case manager which care agency you would like to work with. If you require any help understanding which care agencies are available locally, please contact your Independent Living Advisor.
Before you enter into any agreement, it is important that you speak to the care agency and understand:
- Do they have capacity to take on new clients in your area?
- How much do they charge per hour?
- Are they able to meet any specific requirements you may have (e.g. gender of carer, specific timing of visit)
- Is the agency CQC registered?
- Can they provide confirmation of appropriate training and insurance?
It is also important that you confirm the rate charged by the agency is in line with the funding provided through your agreement. Please speak to your Independent Living Advisor if you require any support with this.
Once you have selected the care agency you would like to work with, you will need to let your Independent Living Advisor know so they can start the process of registering the care agency on Virtual Wallet.
To do this, the Independent Living Advisor will need to know:
- The name of the care agency
- A contact number and email address for the care agency
- The name of a main point of contact at the care agency
- The number of hours of support you have agreed
- The cost of the support per hour
- When they will start to provide support to you
If you could provide this information to your Independent Living Advisor via email, that would be ideal - but they are happy to take this information over the phone if that is easier for you.
Once they have all the appropriate information, your Independent Living Advisor will arrange for the Virtual Wallet support team to contact the care agency, inviting them to register on Virtual Wallet.
This is a simple process for the care agency and once completed, will allow them to submit invoices for payment through your Virtual Wallet account. A number of care agencies across in your area are already registered on Virtual Wallet, so it may be that we are working with them already.
The Virtual Wallet support team will liaise with the care agency directly to get everything set-up in advance of the start date on your agreement.
Once the care agency is registered, you will receive an email confirming your Virtual Wallet login details and instructions how to manage your Virtual Wallet account.
The care agency should start providing care in line with the arrangements you have agreed with them and will generate invoices using Virtual Wallet that you can review at any time using your Virtual Wallet account.
If you need any help or support accessing your Virtual Wallet account, please contact the Virtual Wallet support team - their contact details can be found in the 'contacts' section at the bottom of this page.
Support from personal assistants (PAs)
Employing your own personal assistant affords maximum flexibility but does require more oversight and involvement than other types of support, as you legally become the employer of the individuals that provide support to you.
Whilst at first this can sound daunting, many individuals find that employing personal assistants provides ultimate control over how support is delivered and they benefit significantly from the freedom this brings.
As the budget owner or authorised representative, you are in control of the recruitment and employment process, and are responsible for ensuring that the arrangements you make comply with both your budget agreement and any relevant employment legislation.
Our Independent Living Advisors are on hand to guide you through this process and advise on the steps that you need to take to ensure the arrangements you make are safe and in line with your DP agreement.
The benefits of receiving support from a personal assistant
If you choose to employ a personal assistant to provide support, you have the flexibility to recruit individuals that you feel can best help you to meet your care needs.
As you are the employer, you are able to:
- Tailor the support your employees provide
- Choose the hours that they work
- Ensure continuity of support and build a working relationship with the individual
- Recruit to meet your individual requirements e.g. PA gender, skills, personality
Other considerations when employing a personal assistant
Whilst receiving support from a personal assistant provides the most control and flexibility, it does mean you take responsibility as an employer and need to consider additional factors including:
- You will need to arrange cover for your personal assistant when they are unavailable due to sickness or holidays
- You take on the responsibility of being an employer
- You are responsible for the recruitment process, which can take time to complete successfully
Employing personal assistants
There are a number of key steps to employing personal assistants - the below summary is designed to help ensure the arrangements you put in place are both safe and comply with all relevant employment legislation.
It may be that you already know, or have identified the individual you wish to employ as a personal assistant. In this instance you still need complete a number of the stages below, to ensure the support you receive is safe and aligned to your agreement with your funding authority.
If you require assistance with any stage of the process, please contact your Independent Living Advisor who will be happy to assist.
You may also find it useful to look at some of the resources in the right-hand panel.
To find out more about the process of employing a PA, please follow the steps below:
The first step on the journey to employing your own personal assistants is to find the individual that you would like to provide support to you. It may be that you have already identified the individuals you wish to work with, but if this is not the case, you will need to work through the recruitment process.
Important tasks include:
- Produce a job description and person specification - this is where you can set out the tasks you will require your personal assistant to complete and can detail the skills and characteristics you are looking for.
- Writing a job advert - this is where you will set-out important details, such as rates of pay and hours of work
- Advertising the role - most individuals find that a combination of traditional and digital advertising works best
- Shortlisting candidates - this is where you work through the list of candidates and make decisions on who you would like to invite to an interview
- Conducting interviews - meeting the candidates and asking them question about their skills and experience will help you to decide who is the best fit for your role.
If you require any support with this process, our Independent Living Advisors can offer a range of support, including providing you with template documents that you may wish to use.
Once you have found the individual that you wish to employ as a personal assistant, there are a number of important tasks to complete before you can issue a formal contract of employment:
- Conditional offer - this is where you formally write to the individual offering them the role as your personal assistant subject to the successful completion of some pre-employment checks
- References - the individual should have provided details of someone that will act as a referee when they applied for the role. You will need to contact this individual and request a reference.
- Enhanced DBS certificate - You will need to apply for an Enhanced DBS certificate for each PA. There is funding to cover this in your budget and your Independent Living Advisor is able to support you with this process. Please ask your Independent Living Advisor for further information.
- Right to Work (RTW) check - Before you issue a contract of employment, you need to confirm the individual's right work in the UK. This can be confirmed by the individual providing an official document from a list issued by the government. An up-to-date list of appropriate documents is available on the UK government website -
Check if a document allows someone to work in the UK - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
Once you have successfully completed all the pre-employment tasks highlighted in Step 2, you are ready to start preparing for your PA's first day at work.
Important tasks to complete in advance of your PA's start date include:
- Contract of employment - You will need to issue a formal offer of employment to your personal assistant. This will detail important information including:
- Probationary period
- Rate of pay
- Hours of work and breaks
- Pension arrangements
- Holiday entitlement
- Notice period
- Illness absence process and pay
- HMRC Registration - It is a legal requirement that you register as an employer with HMRC. Once registered, HMRC will provide you with an employer PAYE reference number that you will need to pass to your payroll provider. Registration with HMRC is a straightforward process that can be completed online - Register as an employer - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).
Please contact your Independent Living Advisor if you require any support working through the online form. - Payroll - It is important to ensure that payments to both your PAs and statutory organisations such as HMRC are made accurately and on time. One of the simplest ways to achieve this is to employ the services of a payroll provider to manage this for you. There is a payroll solution called Virtual Wallet Payroll, which can be arranged alongside your Virtual Wallet account.
Alternatively you can choose to work with another payroll 3rd party payroll organisation. Please speak to your Independent Living Advisor for further information. - Home Employment Insurance - Ensuring appropriate insurance is in place is crucial. These policies are designed for individual employers and can offer protection in a variety of scenarios. Typically, these policies provide cover both inside and outside the home and can be extended to cover specific delegated healthcare tasks as required. Policies are available from a range of specialist insurance providers, including Mark Bates Ltd and Fish Insurance.
- Training - Your support plan will detail a range of training that is recommended your personal assistants complete to help ensure the support you receive is safe. Your insurance provider will often provide access to a range of courses as part of your Home Employment policy. Alternatively, your Independent Living Advisor can help you to source appropriate
training providers in your area. - Health and safety - It is your responsibility to ensure your personal assistants are safe whilst at work. If you employ more than 5 PAs, you will need a health and safety policy. If required, your Independent Living Advisor is able to provide you with a template document to complete.
Once you have identified the individual who you wish to employ as a personal assistant, you will need to let your Independent Living Advisor know so they can start the process of registering the personal assistant on Virtual Wallet.
To do this, the Independent Living Advisor will need to know:
- The name of the personal assistant
- A contact number and email address for the personal assistant
- The contracted number of hours of support they will provide each week
- The gross rate of pay
- The date which personal assistant will start to provide support to you
- You will also need to confirm which payroll provider you wish to work with.
- If you choose to use Virtual Wallet Payroll, your Independent Living Advisor will be able to help start the payroll registration process with the Virtual Wallet payroll team.
- If you choose to use a 3rd party payroll provider, you will need to contact the organisation directly and complete their own registration forms. Your Independent Living Advisor will need to know the name of the 3rd party payroll provider and their contact details.
If you could provide this information to your Independent Living Advisor via email, that would be ideal - but they are happy to take this information over the phone if that is easier for you.
Once they have all the appropriate information, your Independent Living Advisor will arrange for the Virtual Wallet support team to contact your personal assistant, inviting them to register on Virtual Wallet.
This is a simple process for the personal assistant and once completed, they will be will be sent their own Virtual Wallet log-in details, allowing them to submit timesheets for you to review using your own Virtual Wallet account.
The Virtual Wallet support team will liaise with the personal assistant directly to get everything set-up in advance of the start date on your PHB.
If you have chosen to work with a 3rd party payroll provider, the Virtual Wallet support team will contact them to invite them to register on Virtual Wallet and agree a way of working together to ensure payroll runs smoothly for both you and your employees.
Once your personal assistant is registered on Virtual Wallet, you will receive an email confirming your Virtual Wallet login details and instructions on how to manage your Virtual Wallet account.
The personal assistant should start providing care inline with the arrangements you have agreed with them and submit timesheets on a regular basis using Virtual Wallet.
You should review and approve these timesheets within 3 days of them being submitted using your Virtual Wallet account.
If you need any help or support accessing your Virtual Wallet account, please contact the Virtual Wallet support team - their contact details can be found in the 'contacts' section at the bottom of this page.