We’ve tried to make Virtual Wallet as easy to use as possible, but we all need a helping hand from time to time. In this section, we have brought together a range of information to help Personal Assistants.
If you have a question, we'd encourage you to look at the Frequently Asked Questions on this page, which provide answers to our most common questions.
If your question isn't answered there, the fastest way to contact our team is via web chat, located in the bottom right hand side of this website.
You can do most of these things yourself, but the support team at Virtual Wallet are here to help you if you need with:
As a PA, it is unlikely that you will have queries that need to be directed to the funding authority (the local council or the NHS) as your main relationship is with your employer (the individual).
However, many councils and NHS organisations do have arrangements with a local 'direct payments support service', who may provide support to PAs, especially around training and employment queries.
This is an advice service that helps people with their direct payment. They will often also provide support to PAs. It can be provided:
The staff are sometimes called 'Independent Living Advisors' or 'Support Brokers'.
Each local service is different, but most direct payments support services help people with:
You should be able to find the contact details for your local direct payments support service in the 'in your area' drop-down menu on the right hand side of this page.
PA stands for 'personal assistant'. It has a different meaning in the health & social care sector (where it means someone that supports you with your health & social care needs) compared to a typical office setting (where it means someone that does secretarial work).
Most PAs are employed by the person receiving the care or support. This means that they (as the employer) are responsible for calculating the tax and other deductions to be made before they are paid. PAs are paid via the submission of timesheets and a payslip being produced. Most people use the Virtual Wallet payroll service to manage timesheets and payroll calculations, but your employer can use a third-party payroll provider if they prefer.
It is possible for a PA to be self-employed. This means that they are not formally employed by the individual receiving care and support, and that they are therefore responsible for their own tax affairs. Community and micro-provider organisations are often examples of self-employed PAs. Whilst self-employed PAs may still submit timesheets, there are no payroll calculations to be done, and ultimately they will be paid via an invoice (like a care provider organisation does).
If your employer is new to Virtual Wallet, the setup of PAs or providers will be covered by the 'online enrolment' process. This means that when your employer registers, they will give us your details and this will trigger an email to be sent to you explaining how to register.
If your employer already has a Virtual Wallet account and they want to add you as a new PA or provider, please ask them to contact the Virtual Wallet support team (webchat is the fastest way) so that we can get you onboarded.
This depends on whether you are paid on a four-weekly basis, or on a monthly basis.
For those on a four-weekly basis, the typical timings are:
For those on a monthly basis, the typical timings are:
Payroll schedules (with the cut-off times) can be found above in the resources section.
If we become aware of a delay for any reason, we will always try and let you know.
If you use a third party payroll company (instead of Virtual Wallet payroll), we are reliant on them doing the calculations and sending them to us promptly.
There could be a few reasons for this.
The first thing to check is when you are due to be paid (see FAQ: When will I be paid?).
Next up, check that you have submitted your timesheet and that it has been approved (see FAQ: How do I check if my timesheet has been approved?). The deadlines are really tight as we try to get everyone paid as quickly as possible. If the timesheet was submitted late, or approved late, then you may have missed the pay run. You will still be paid, but the payment will be late. This is why we encourage everyone to submit timesheets every week so there is less of an impact if the last timesheet of the four-week period is late for some reason.
Other reasons could be:
We have no control over how quickly the payment clearing system operates. Some payments take a few minutes to be processed, others can take a most of the day. Please wait until after close of business (generally 5pm) on the day that payment is due to be received before contacting us.
It depends. Lots of people use our in-house Virtual Wallet payroll service. However, some people use a third-party payroll provider. This is normally because they used them before they got a Virtual Wallet account and wanted to carry on.
It is important because any payroll-related queries need to be directed to the relevant payroll provider. If your employer uses the Virtual Wallet payroll service, then the support team at Virtual Wallet will be able to answer payroll-related queries. If they use a third-party payroll provider, then the Virtual Wallet support team will only be able to help you with payment queries - they cannot help you with any queries about the payroll calculations themselves (e.g. holiday pay, tax queries, missing timesheets etc) as they do not have any visibility of the payroll calculations.
Generally speaking, the payroll provider will be whoever produces your payslip.
These are set by whoever does the payroll calculations for your employer.
If they use the Virtual Wallet payroll service, we operate four schedules (called A, B, C and M). The schedules (with the cut-off times) can be found above in the resources section.
If they use a third-party payroll provider, you should check your correspondence with them, or their website.
You can check by looking at the most recent payslip.
Whilst most PAs are employed by the person that they support, it is possible for a PA to be self-employed. Community and micro-provider organisations are often examples of self-employed PAs.
Within Virtual Wallet, they can be setup as a provider (see provider guidance pages) or as a self-employed PA. Whilst self-employed PAs may still submit timesheets, there are no payroll calculations to be done, and ultimately they will be paid via an invoice (like a care provider). The self-employed PA process is as follows:
We've recently launched what we call 'online enrolment'. This is how it works:
If you have a question or are stuck, the best thing to do is open a webchat conversation with us via the webchat box on the bottom right of the screen (if there is no-one online the webchat option won't appear).
Alternatively you can call us on 03300 582692 or email us at info@myvirtualwallet.co.uk
If you can't remember your password, click on 'Forgot your password'. This should then send you an email that enables you to reset your password without needing to contact us.
If you have more than three failed login attempts, your account will be disabled for 24 hours. If you can't wait that long, get in touch with the Virtual Wallet support team on 03300 582692.
If you couldn't find the information you needed in the resources above, send a query to our support team by using this form or using the webchat in the bottom, right hand corner of this site.