What to do before hiring

If you hire a personal assistant, you will be their employer.  

This means you need to recruit, pay and manage them fairly and legally.  

This includes:  

  • registering as an employer and setting up PAYE 
  • checking they’re entitled to work in the UK 
  • getting Employers’ Liability insurance to cover you if an employee has an accident or is made redundant 
  • paying the correct Tax and National Insurance contributions on their wages 

Check what you need to do as an employer 

Check if they’re entitled to work in the UK 

You will need to check if they’re legally entitled to work in the UK by asking to see one of these documents: 

  • a pay slip from a past job in the UK 
  • a P60 or P45 
  • a national insurance card 
  • a passport  
  • a birth certificate showing they were born in the UK or Republic of Ireland 
  • a document to prove they have the legal right to work in the UK such as a visa or a resident card 

Is they’ve given you their ‘share code’ to view their right to work record, you can check their right to work online 

Once you have the proof of identity and right to work documents you need to: 

  • check these documents are valid with the employee present 
  • make and keep a copy of the documents and record the date you made the copies 

Get advice about your responsibilities if you hire your own personal assistant 

If you employ someone who does not have the right to work and you have not done checks, the government will prosecute and fine you. 

If you employ someone through Greenwich Local Labour and Business, they will have done these checks already.  

Get your potential PAs to have a DBS check 

We recommend you ask potential PAs to have a DBS check.  

This will tell you if they’ve ever been found guilty of crimes like sexual offences, violence or fraud. Or if they’ve been fired from a job for abusing adults of children.  

Some people are not caught but a DBS check makes it less likely to hire an abuser.  

You can contact us to arrange a DBS check for a potential employee. There is a cost, but we will build this into your budget.  

Once the DBS check is done, the information will go to the potential employee. You should ask to see it before hiring them.  

Get an employment contract  

If you hire a personal assistant, you must have a written agreement between you and the person you’re hiring.  

You should talk about what you want them to do and how you want them to work with you when discussing the employment contract.  

We can give you a template or you can get advice from your Employment Liability Insurance provider.  

The contract must cover:  

  • the person’s job title such as ‘Personal Assistant’ and a description of the work they’re expected to do 
  • start date and how long a job is likely to last if it’s temporary 
  • places they’ll be working  
  • how much they’ll get paid and how often including sleep ins and other price variations  
  • their entitlement to a pension  
  • hours of work (if this is flexible, if it includes overnight, weekends and public holidays) 
  • holiday entitlement and if that includes public holidays  
  • notice period for you and for them  
  • what they should do if they have an issue or a complaint