Employment & Payroll Advice for Personal Assistants

If you work as a domestic employee your employer is required by law to deduct income tax and National Insurance contributions from your wage, and pay them along with an additional employer's National Insurance contribution, on your behalf, to the Inland Revenue. They are also required to provide you with weekly or monthly payslips showing clearly the deductions that have been made.

You should always agree a gross wage with your employer. After tax and NI contributions have been paid you will receive a net salary (which is the amount left after these deductions have been made). It is in your best interest to make sure that your employer is paying tax and NI contributions on your behalf. Failure to do so can affect your future entitlement to state benefits, such as your pension and unemployment benefit.

Some employers are conscientious and some are not - some are well-intentioned but may delay calculating and paying these deductions through lack of time or unfamiliarity with how to do so. Some employers may even ask you to pay your own tax on a self-employed basis, but in most cases this is not acceptable to the Inland Revenue and you shoud not agree to this.

When you accept a contract of employment from a new employer, you should make sure that your employer's responsibility to deduct tax and NI contributions on your benhalf is clearly stated in it.

Being an employee on PAYE entitles you to certain statutory rights:

• Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) as an employee you are entitled to this if you are sick for 3 days or more. NOrmally the waiting days do not include non-working days (days not normally worked). Working days lost prior to SSP commencing are paid at your employer's discretion. The current rate of SSP (tax year 2006/2007) is £70.05 per week and can be paid instead of or as part of the normal rate of pay. You are entitled to up to 28 weeks SSP.
  
  
• Statutory Maternity Pay (SMP) If you are pregnant and have been working for the same employer for at least 9 months prior to the baby's due date, your employer is obliged to administer SMP on your behalf. For the first 6 weeks of the maternity pay period you are entitled to 90% of your gross wage (tax year 2006/2007). For the subsequent 20 weeks you are entitled to £108.85 gross per week (tax year 2006/2007), or 90% of your gross wage, whichever is the lower. If you choose to resume your employment folowing your maternity leave you are fully entitled to do so, with the same terms and conditions as before. In most cases your employer can reclaim all costs of operating and paying SMP from the Inland Revenue.
  
  
• Statutory Adoption Pay (SAP) and Statutory Paternity Pay (SPP) Please contact Enable Payroll for more information on these.
  
  
• Protection against unfair dismissal - If you have been in continuous employment (ie- working for the same employer for a minimum of two years. For details of how much you are entitled to contact Enable Payroll.
  
  
• By paying NIC you also qualify for State Pension Contributions. The State Pension is divided into 2 parts: The Basic State Pension and the State Second Pension. For more information you can either speak to an Independent Financial Advisor or contact the Pensions Helpline on 0845 3000 168.
  
  
• All Full-Time employees in the UK are entitled to four weeks (20 days) paid leave under the European Employment Legislation. If you work Part-Time you have the same holiday entitlement but pro-rate to the number of days you work. In effect, this means that if you regularly work one day per week you are entitled to 4 days paid holiday; if you work two days you get eight days; for three days you are entitled to 12 days; and for four days you are entitled to 16 days .
  

BEWARE: You are only entitled to these benfits if you are on PAYE. You could lose out if your employer cuts corners! If your employer does not register for PAYE or if they register but only declare part of your salary in order to save themselves money it will directly effect your full entitlement to the above or other state benefits. Also, remember that you will need evidence of declared income in the form of payslips to get a personal loan, mortgage or provide a finiancial reference for rental accomodation.

Enable Payroll is the UK's leading payroll service for domestic employers. Users of direct payments subscribe to our service and we keep tax records on their (and your) behalf, and advise your employer when tax and NI payments are due and for how much. Although it is your employer that uses our service, it is both their obligations as an employer and your interests as an employee that are being taken care of.

Since Enable Payroll is a friendly and inexpensive service, you might like to mention the service to your employer and encourage them to use it. You will have reassurance that your wages and deductions are being properly calculated and recorded, and your employer will have the convenience of your pay arrangements being properly looked after.

Please contact Enable Payroll on 0845 226 2213 for mroe information or email info@enable-payroll.co.uk

Special Discount 10% off - Please mention 'Enable Together Offer' when you call, to receive a discount when you subscribe.

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