Self employed status

A PA who is self-employed can offer a range of different services and sets the price for the services offered which can vary e.g. services involving manual handling or personal care will be charged at a higher rate than services such as cleaning or shopping.

A PA who chooses to be self-employed must undertake to pay their own tax and NI. The PA will not be entitled to sick pay or holiday pay.

All self-employed PA’s are advised to enter into a service contract with their clients to ensure that they will be given reasonable notice if the client wishes to cancel the service. 

Self-employed PAs must comply with HMRC IR35 and prove they are self-employed which will usually require a PA to have multiple clients and to set their own work times. We will do our best to help you work through these problems.

A client may require evidence that supports the PA self-employed status as a client could be inadvertently classed as an employer if a PA claimed they were employed and made a claim for sick pay or holiday pay.

The purpose of IR35 is to ensure that contractors who are essentially employees in all but name contribute the same amount of tax and National Insurance as regular employees. It is part of HMRC's broader efforts to combat tax avoidance. 

  IR35 focuses on determining whether a contractor [a PA] is essentially an employee of the client for tax purposes, even if they are officially contracted [or even introduced] through an intermediary.

Some LAs will not allow Direct Payment Clients to engage a self-employed PA for fear of becoming liable if a PA lost their self-employed status, thus possibly making the LA liable for NI and Pension costs.