Carers who are paid for caring

If you work as a paid carer, you may be an employee or self-employed.   There are special rules for foster carers and shared lives carers – see later articles in this section.  Other care-workers (child-minders, nannies, paid carers for the elderly, personal assistants for people with disabilities etc) are taxed under the usual rules for employed or self-employed people.

As a broad rule, you are likely to be an employee if you work regular hours in the home of the person you are caring for. See  http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/working/emp-in-home.htm.

This means that the person you are caring for, may legally be your employer – and liable to operate PAYE on amounts they pay to you.  For instance, if you are paid directly by someone you care for (for instance, someone with a disability who gets an amount from the Independent Living Fund), they are probably your employer.  http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/DisabledPeople/HomeAndHousingOptions/YourHome/DG_4019444

If you are paid by an agency to provide care, you are likely to be employed by the agency.  If you run a business providing care for a number of people, you may be self-employed.

For more information on employment and self-employment see

• http://taxaid.org.uk/situations/self-employed
• http://taxaid.org.uk/situations/employee