Employing Carers for Your Child: Your Responsibilities as an Employer

You must give the carer a statement or contract which sets out their terms and conditions on or before their first day of work.

This must include the following information:

• Your name and address (as the employer).
• The employee’s name, job title or a description of the work they will be doing and their start date.
• How much and how often they will be paid.
• Their hours and days of work and if they may vary, or if they have to work on Sundays, during the night or work overtime.
• How much paid holiday they will get, and how this is calculated.
• Whether they have to work on bank or public holidays.
• How to request a holiday.
• How much they will be paid if they are sick and any procedures they need to follow.
• Where they will be working.
• Whether the job is permanent or fixed-term (and what the end date is if it’s fixed-term).
• How long any probation period is and what conditions apply to it.
• Any other benefits (for example, providing meals).
• Any training you want them to do.
• How much notice they must give you if they wish to leave and how much notice you must give them to terminate their employment. Please note: once the carer has worked for you for a month, you must give them at least a week’s notice if you wish end their employment. They are entitled to a week’s notice for every year they work for you, up to a maximum of 12 weeks. For example, if the carer has worked for you for 3 years, you must give them at least 3 weeks’ notice.

You also need to inform them about any disciplinary rules – including the procedure you will follow, and how they can raise a grievance about their employment and how you will deal with this.

Acas have a job offer letter template and written statement which you can download for free here.

You must pay your carer at least the National Minimum Wage (NMW) for their age.

• Anyone aged 21 or older must get the National Living Wage (NLW), which is will be £12.71 per hour from April 2026.
• These rates change every April.

How to Pay

The rules can be complicated. You need to decide if you will pay:

1. ‘Time work’: pay for every hour they work.
2. ‘Salaried hours work’: a fixed salary for a set number of hours each year, paid in regular instalments.

If the hours change from week to week or from month to month, it’s best to pay for the actual hours worked in each pay period (weekly, four-weekly, or monthly).

When Must You Pay The National Minimum Wage?

You MUST also pay the carer the National Minimum Wage:

• Time spent talking about your child’s care (even after their shift ends).
• Training you ask them to attend.

If you ask them to sleep over and provide them with a place to sleep (even if you are also in the house):

• You only need to pay them the relevant NMW rate if they get up during their shift to care for your child.
• You can agree to pay them a lower rate of pay when they are asleep.

When Don’t You Have to Pay The National Minimum Wage

You do not have to pay the carer the National Minimum Wage during their rest breaks.

Uniform

If you want your carer to wear a uniform, you must not ask them to pay for it (or contribute to the cost) if this would reduce their pay below the minimum wage.

Payslips

You must give them a payslip showing:

• Hours worked.
• Pay rate.
• Any deductions (such as tax or National Insurance).

HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) enforces the minimum wage rules. If you don’t pay correctly, you can be fined and face penalties.

You must give your carer the following rest periods:

• Daily rest of at least 11 consecutive hours in each 24-hour period
• Weekly rest of at least 24 consecutive hours in each 7-day period or one uninterrupted rest period of at least 48 hours within a 14-day period
• A break of 20 minutes for every six hours of work. This should be uninterrupted.

You must not ask your carer to work more than 48 hours a week (this is averaged over the previous 17 weeks) unless they have agreed to this in writing. They have the right to change their mind by giving you written notice.

Employers have to provide a workplace pension scheme for eligible staff as soon as they start work.

You must enrol and make contributions for any employee who:

• Is aged between 22 and the state pension age;
• Earns at least £10,000 a year; and
• Normally works in the UK.

Your employee can opt out of the pension scheme.

How Much Holiday is My Carer Entitled To?

All workers are entitled to a minimum of 5.6 weeks paid holiday each holiday year.

Can I Pay Them Instead of Taking a Holiday?

No. You can’t pay them instead of taking a holiday unless their employment is ending.

What if My Carer Doesn’t Have Fixed Hours of Work

Option 1: ‘Rolling up’ their holiday pay

If your carer doesn’t have fixed hours of work, you can ‘roll up’ their holiday pay by adding a payment equivalent to 12.07% to the hours they have worked in the pay period. For example, if you pay your carer weekly and they have worked 15 hours in a week, the calculation is:

Rate of pay per hour x number of hours workers x 12.07%

£15.00 per hour x 15 hours worked = £225.00 [pay for hours worked]
£225.00 x 12.07 = £27.16 [holiday pay earned]
Total pay including rolled up holiday pay £252.16

You must include holiday pay as a separate item on the pay slip.

Even if you use this method, you must allow the worker to take time off when they want to take a break, but you don’t have to pay them any additional money.

Option 2: Paying them when they go on holiday

If you don’t roll up your carer’s holiday pay you will have to pay them when they go on holiday. They will accrue holiday at a rate of 12.07% for each hour they work. The rules require you to calculate their holiday pay by averaging their hourly pay over the previous 52 weeks. However, if their rate of pay hasn’t changed over that period, it is much easier to multiply the number of hours they are taking as holiday by their usual rate of pay.

Employees can carry over untaken holiday from one year to the next (and sometimes beyond this) in some circumstances.

You may need to give your employee training so they can do their job safely and well.

Check What They Already Know

Before they start work:

• Ask what training they have already done.
• Talk about any extra training they might need.

This could include:

• Manual handling.
• Infection prevention and control.
• Basic first aid.
• Health and safety.

If they belong to a professional body, they may need mandatory training.

Tell Them About Training

• You must give your employee details of any training you expect them to do and explain who will pay for it (you or them).
• Do this on or before their first day.
• You can include this in their contract or in a separate document

Paying for Training

If you ask your employee to attend training:

• You must pay the course fees if it would reduce their pay below the National Minimum Wage.
• You must also pay them for the time spent at training (at their normal rate), even if it is outside their usual working hours.

Where to Find Training

You could look into getting training from the following places:

• The company that provides your equipment.
• Your feed company or Nutricia for tube and feed training.
• If you are unsure you could ask other parents on a community forum, such as the WellChild Family Tree, where they got training for their children from.

Top Tip! Remember to budget money into your child’s PHB for training costs.

Employers must follow the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 and the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 unless the work is classed as ‘domestic services’ in a private home.

Providing personal care may or may not be ‘domestic services’. The Health and Safety Executive will consider each case individually.

As a rule of thumb, health and safety legislation usually applies if:

• The carer works for the NHS
• The care they are providing is complex (such as operating palliative care equipment).
• Delivering the care requires specialist training.

Reducing Risks in Your Home

You should consider what risks the employee faces in your home and take steps to reduce these. For example:

• If the employee needs to lift your child, they may need a hoist to avoid injuring their back.
• You may also need to provide PPE (for example, gloves or masks) to reduce the risks of infection.

The most common causes of injury and ill health to carers are:

• Moving and handling
• Dealing with challenging behaviour.

Make sure any equipment you provide is safe and that your employee knows how to use it properly.

Recording Accidents

You should write down any accidents or incidents and keep records safe.

Employee Responsibilities

Your employee has other employment rights. Some of these start on their first day of employment, others only apply once they have worked for you for a specific amount of time, as not all of these rights are available from day one.

Key Rights:

• The right to claim unfair dismissal; and
• The right to receive a redundancy payment.

Usually, they must work for you for two years to claim these rights (there are some exceptions). However, unfair dismissal is now a ‘day one’ right.

Family Leave

Employees also have the right to:

• Take maternity leave and care leave from the first day of employment.
• Take other family-related absences.

They may also get statutory payments during these absences.

You can find information about these on the government website or via Acas.

If you choose to manage payroll yourself, you must:

• Report payments and deductions to HMRC on or before payday.
• Keep all payroll records softly

Check if you qualify for Employment Allowance!

• You may qualify for Employment Allowance
• This can reduce your National Insurance bill by up to £10,500 a year. (Please note, the tax rates and threshold change each year.)

You can hire an accountant or payroll company to manage payroll for you.

However, you are still the employer, which means:

• You must make sure your employee is paid correctly
• You must check they get all the benefits and rights they are entitled to

Joanne Moseley, Lead Practice Development Lawyer

Rachel Carluke, Family Information Officer

[email protected]

First published: March 2026

Review due: March 2027