Terms and Conditions
Contract and Terms
1: The contract will only commence on the start date.
2: Maggie Barnett as an Introduction Agent and cannot be held responsible for an assignment that is cancelled or cut short, for any reason.
3: If the booking should be cut short or cancelled, for any reason, and this will include the death of the Client, two weeks’ fee will be paid to the Carer plus the agency fee. The notice period will only apply once the assignment has commenced.
4: The Carer is self employed, and responsible for her own tax and National Insurance.
5: The Carer confirms that she has Carers Liability Insurance in place which will be verified by Maggie Barnett Introductory Agent.
6: Whilst it is understood that Clients like continuity of care, all Carers are self employed and due to current employment laws, the time of stay is limited to 12 weeks at any given time. Carers may, and often do, return to a Client, but the Inland Revenue views periods longer than 12 weeks as a permanent position and subject to all the legislation this contains.
7: The ideal assignment is no longer than six weeks. This allows everyone involved time to settle into a good routine and become familiar with how things run. Only in exceptional circumstances will assignments be longer than six weeks. The ideal arrangement is to have three or four regular Carers that return allowing for continuity of care.
8: A day charge on an invoice shall be from midday to midday the following day. Carers are expected to arrive by no later than 12 midday and leave by no later than 2pm. If the Client requires a Carer to arrive later, then the Carer will not be penalised.
9: The normal working day should start no earlier than 7.30 and end no later than 10pm. When a Carer finishes a shift, they will remain in the Service User’s home, and will be on call for emergencies. Should the assistant have to stay up later than the 10 pm or get up earlier then the 7.30 am, they will charge 10% of the daily rate for the extra time, unless the rate is stated in the Care Plan.
10: If a Carer is woken during the night they will charge for every time they are out of bed. If it becomes a regular occurrence that a Carer is called three or more times during the night then the Care Package will need to be reassessed. The rates per night call will be £12 unless otherwise stipulated in the Care Plan.
11: Statutory Bank Holidays that operate in England, Wales and Scotland are charged at double the daily rate. During the the Christmas period the Carer will charge for five days at double time, these being 24th, 25th, 26th, 31st December and 1st January.
12: Carers will submit an invoice for time worked on a weekly basis. Immediate payment preferably via bank transfer is expected, within two days.
Carers Break
13: It is recommended that the Carer have a 2.5 hour continuous break per day, at a mutual time to be agreed. A good time is usually any time between 11am and 5.30pm. It would be unreasonable to expect a Carer to take their break before 11am as they have chores that need doing and the day has hardly begun. Not many of the Carers have their own vehicles and would not want to take their break after 5.30pm. If for any reason the break cannot be taken, then the Carer will claim, on the weekly invoice, at a rate of 10% of the daily rate, for each hour not taken. It is recommended that time spent with family, for example at a Sunday lunch, is not claimed, however, if the Carer is expected to accompany the
Client to an activity of their choosing, then time off not taken may be claimed. Any deviation to the time off will be stipulated in the care plan.
