Care & support · England
Getting help to pay my support staff
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Payroll means organising staff pay and related records.
You can pay a service to help with this.
Choose useful help
Ask what help the service provides.
Ask for explanations in a way you understand.
Know the employer
A payroll service does not become the employer just by organising pay.
Check who is legally responsible for employing your staff.
Agree the tasks
Write down what the service will do.
Write down what you must do, with support if needed.
Check the costs
Ask about all the fees.
Check how wages and other employment costs will be funded.
Keep a calendar
Agree when to send hours worked and other changes.
Record payday and other important deadlines.
Check payments happen
A payslip does not prove money has been paid.
Agree who pays staff, tax and pension money.
Check pensions and holidays
Ask what pension duties apply to you.
Agree who keeps holiday and holiday-pay records.
Keep information safe
Agree who can see private information.
Use official steps to authorise someone to deal with HMRC.
Do not share your HMRC sign-in details.
Get help with problems
Tell the service promptly if something looks wrong.
Agree how records and payments continue if you change provider.
What you can do next
HMRC explains payroll choices and employer responsibilities.
You can use the worksheet to compare services.
Read about payroll services Web pageThis link opens another website.
It may use harder words.
More useful links
- HMRC: choosing how to run payroll Web page
Compare doing payroll yourself with using a provider, and understand the employer's continuing responsibilities.
- The Pensions Regulator: employing a care worker Web page
Check workplace-pension duties when directly employing personal assistants.
- Acas: employment status Web page
Understand employment rights and why tax status is a separate question.
- Skills for Care: individual employer factsheets Web page
Further support for people directly employing personal assistants.
- HMRC: authorising a tax agent Web page
Give an agent appropriate authority without sharing your sign-in details.
These links open other websites.
They may use harder words.
Using a payroll service for my support staff
Choose payroll help, agree who does each task and keep staff pay, records and deadlines organised.
Adults directly employing support staff and their chosen supporters · England
Know who employs your staff
Payroll means organising staff pay and related records. A payroll provider does not become the employer just by doing this work. A managed account handles money; that alone does not make its provider the employer either. Record who legally employs each worker. If you are the employer, you remain responsible for PAYE tasks even when someone else carries them out. Where an agency or another organisation employs the staff, the arrangements differ. Check who employs and pays them rather than assuming every provider offers the same service.
Choose the help you need
Ask your direct-payment or personal-health-budget adviser about payroll support. Compare written offers, including setup, regular, extra and leaving fees. Ask whether the service supports individual employers, your working arrangements and your communication needs. You may want telephone help, accessible explanations or someone you choose involved with your agreement. Confirm who can answer questions and who covers their absence. Payroll does not automatically include recruitment, employment-law advice, managing staff or deciding employment status. Tax status and status for employment rights are different questions; get suitable advice if either is unclear.
Write down every payroll task
Agree who checks whether PAYE registration is needed and completes it, calculates wages, tax and National Insurance, prepares payslips and handles starters, leavers and year-end documents. PAYE is the system for collecting tax and National Insurance from pay. Also agree who calculates holiday pay and any statutory payments, such as sick pay, under the current rules. Ask who keeps leave and payroll records and sends required reports to HMRC, the tax authority. Online payroll reports are often called Real Time Information, or RTI. Ask what is excluded from the service.
Separate calculations, reports and payments
A payslip does not prove that wages, tax or pension contributions have been paid. Agree who actually sends each payment, who checks it and which account is used. Make a calendar for timesheets, changes, approvals, payday, HMRC reports and payments. The provider may need information before the legal deadline. Employees and workers must receive payslips on or before payday. The usual online pay report to HMRC is normally due on or before payday too; exceptions exist. Tell the provider promptly about changed hours, leave, sickness and staff joining or leaving.
Check pensions and holiday records
Directly employing even one personal assistant brings workplace-pension duties. Whether someone must be enrolled depends on their circumstances. Check who assesses staff, arranges the scheme, sends required letters, handles contributions and completes the regulator's declaration. A payroll package may cover only some of these tasks. The employer remains responsible. Agree how holiday entitlement, time off and holiday pay are recorded, including irregular hours where relevant. Ask which records you must retain and for how long; tax, holiday and pension records have different requirements.
Check the whole employment budget
The cost of employing staff is more than the money reaching their bank account. Plan for wages, employer contributions where due, paid leave, cover, insurance, payroll and other agreed employment costs. If the council or NHS funds your support, ask which costs are included, how they are paid and who to contact about a shortfall. Council and NHS guidance requires appropriate employment costs to be reflected when direct employment is the agreed way to meet needs. Check your individual plan and arrangements; a particular provider's fee is not automatically approved. Request a review if necessary.
Protect information and control access
Payroll uses private staff information. Agree how necessary information is collected, shared lawfully, stored securely and accessed by authorised people. Tell staff what records are kept and how they are used. Check how you and staff can obtain the information you need, including accessible payslips. A supporter should only act within the permission or legal authority they have. Use HMRC's approved process to authorise an agent. Do not share your HMRC sign-in details. Ask how access is removed when a provider or authorised supporter changes.
Check the service and plan for problems
Check hours, pay, deductions and account balances with support if needed. Keep confirmation of reports and payments, and raise mistakes promptly with the provider. Ask who corrects errors, what help is included and how to complain. Keep employment advice available for disputes or proposed changes to staff pay. Before changing provider, agree the final payroll, handover date, fees and secure transfer of records. Arrange continuing access to records for the required periods and a backup for urgent deadlines. Do not assume the old provider will finish everything automatically.
Words you could use
“Please explain what your payroll service includes, what I must still do, all fees and deadlines, and who sends each payment. Help me record the arrangements in a way I understand.”
More useful links
- HMRC: choosing how to run payroll Web page
Compare doing payroll yourself with using a provider, and understand the employer's continuing responsibilities.
- The Pensions Regulator: employing a care worker Web page
Check workplace-pension duties when directly employing personal assistants.
- Acas: employment status Web page
Understand employment rights and why tax status is a separate question.
- Skills for Care: individual employer factsheets Web page
Further support for people directly employing personal assistants.
- HMRC: authorising a tax agent Web page
Give an agent appropriate authority without sharing your sign-in details.
These links open other websites.
They may use harder words.
Where the information comes from
Links checked 9 November 2026.
These links open other websites.
They may use harder words.
- HMRC: choosing how to run payroll Web page
Provider scope varies and the employer retains legal responsibility for PAYE tasks.
- HMRC: running payroll Web page
Pay calculations, deductions, employer contributions and payroll tasks.
- HMRC: reporting pay to HMRC Web page
Full Payment Submission deadlines, corrections and staff changes.
- HMRC: payslips Web page
Employees and workers must receive a payslip on or before payday.
- HMRC: keeping PAYE records Web page
Required payroll records and retention requirements.
- The Pensions Regulator: personal assistants and pensions Web page
Automatic-enrolment duties apply to direct employers, including publicly funded arrangements.
- The Pensions Regulator: checking the payroll process Web page
Check whether payroll can assess staff and calculate pension contributions.
- The Pensions Regulator: automatic-enrolment process Web page
Employer responsibility for arrangements and information when others carry out tasks.
- The Pensions Regulator: declaration of compliance Web page
August 2026 checklist: the employer must ensure completion and must not assume a third party will do it.
- The Pensions Regulator: keeping records Web page
Employer responsibility for pension records, including when administration is outsourced.
- Acas: employment status Web page
Status depends on the actual arrangements; tax status differs from employment-rights status.
- Acas: holiday entitlement Web page
Paid holiday rights and individual working arrangements.
- Acas: keeping holiday records Web page
Current holiday and holiday-pay recording requirements, including the April 2026 changes.
- DHSC: care and support statutory guidance Web pageFuller information
Direct-payment employment costs, support, cover and insurance, particularly paragraphs 12.27 to 12.33.
- NHS England: direct payments for healthcare Web page
Agreed employment costs, employer responsibilities and support, particularly paragraphs 112 to 113 and 143 to 149.
- NHS England: options for managing a personal health budget Web page
Managed accounts are distinct from third-party employer arrangements; direct-payment support can include payroll.
- GOV.UK: data protection Web page
Secure and accurate information, explaining its use and sharing, and access rights.
- GOV.UK: managing staff records Web page
Restrict access to appropriate people, protect records and retain information only as required.
- HMRC: authorising an agent Web page
Approved authorisation and the prohibition on sharing HMRC sign-in credentials.
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