Welcome to Essex 

Penderels Trust is really pleased to provide the direct payment support service in Essex in partnership with Essex County Council. 

Please read this page about what to do and who to contact if you have any queries about the service. We will keep this page regularly updated so please pop back here if you have any questions. 

Office Visits

We are very happy for you to visit our office if you wish to meet with your adviser face-to-face. However, it is really important that you make an appointment before you come so we can make sure the person you want to see is available. Please also note that our finance team (who run our managed accounts) and payroll team are not based in Essex, they work from our head office in Coventry. 

Summer 2024 Newsletter

Our latest newsletter is packed with information and updates on our services in Essex. If you are a direct payment recipient in Essex, you should have a received a copy direct into your inbox or via the post. You can also read it here - https://www.penderelstrust.org.uk/essex/newsletter/summer24.pdf

National Living Wage Increases

Essex County Council would like to remind all Direct Payment recipients that the National Living Wage increased to £11.44 on 1^st April 2024. If your Personal Assistant is being paid below this hourly rate, you will need to increase your Personal Assistant’s (PA) salary to at least £11.44.

Essex County Council are currently processing increases to personal budgets to make sure there is enough in your account to cover the PA's salary plus all the other costs you need to pay like national insurance, pension and insurance (known as on-costs). This may not be in your account by the 1^st April but it will be backdated to this date so no need to worry if you don’t see the increase immediately. You will receive an individual letter soon to confirm this is happening for your account.

If you believe you do not receive enough funds into your DP account to cover this increase and don’t receive a letter, please contact Essex County Council on DPRecipients@essex.gov.uk and we will contact you to resolve this. It would be really helpful if you could provide the following information:

• The person who the DP is for
• Their ID number begins 5000 or a date of birth
• Total number of hours PA(s) work each week. This will help calculate the change required
• Please make the subject of the email “PA uplift”

Email Addresses

We have a number of email addresses to help us manage the flow of incoming invoices, timesheets and queries. Please check below for the correct email address to use. 

General queries - essex@penderelstrust.org.uk

My View online system (payroll only) set up and queries - myview@penderelstrust.org.uk

For managed accounts (where we hold the direct payment funds on your behalf), please use the following:

Timesheets (for directly employed PAs using payroll only) - essextimesheets@penderelstrust.org.uk
Invoices for self-employed PAs/agencies/other providers - essexfinance@penderelstrust.org.uk

It would really help us if you could put the name of the direct payment recipient in the subject header of your email so we can allocate them to the right person quickly. 

For self-managed accounts (where you hold your own direct payment funds), please use the following: 

Timesheets (for directly employed PAs using payroll only, previously known as 'process only') - timesheets@penderelstrust.org.uk

Invoices for self-employed PAs, agencies and other providers should be paid directly by you out of your direct payment account. 

Our services

We have two main ways that someone can manage their direct payment - a managed account where we hold the funding and pay PA wages/invoices and a self-managed direct payment account where you hold the funding in a dedicated bank account and you arrange payment for PA wages and invoices. Neither of these are quite the same as what most DP recipients in Essex had previously which is what we would call a 'holding account'  - where the provider holds the funding but the DP recipient instructs what is to be paid, manages the balance etc. We explain our services a bit more below.

Whichever type of account you have, you have access to our advice and guidance support service at any time. Our independent living advisers (ILAs) can support with getting started, recruiting a PA, being a good employer, managing any employment issues, support with using care agencies and other providers and putting contingency plans in place, for example. 

Managed Account

Our managed account service is designed for individuals for whom a direct payment is the best solution for their care and support but who are unable to manage their own direct payment funding. This may be because of their disability or health condition, because they simply don't have the time/resources to manage it or sometimes because of a financial safeguarding concern. The account is managed by a finance officer in our Essex team. 

• We receive the direct payment funding from Essex County Council and any personal contribution from you
• We pay invoices and/or PA wages 
• We manage the balance via a tracker process so we know what income and expenditure is expected
• We check invoices and timesheets as they come in before they are sent to finance or payroll for processing
• PAs are paid directly into their bank account 
• Tax, national insurance and pension contributions are paid directly to HMRC/NEST by us
• We arrange renewal of employer's liability insurance
• We will contact you if there is anything on the account that is unexpected or unusual 

We have had a number of questions around control of a managed account. It is important to note that if you have a managed account, you are still able to choose how you receive your care and from whom:

• You can still use your direct payment flexibly - we know many people have fluctuating needs either due to their disability or health condition, school holidays, need for respite and so on. We will get to know you and what is 'usual' for you. 
• We won't refuse invoices if they are different to what you usually send in, we might check with you if we are unsure
• You can get a statement of account or balance from your finance officer but this service is designed so that the finance officer worries about that so you don't have to. We appreciate that sometimes it is useful e.g. to work out school holiday or respite cover etc. 

Self-Managed Account

You will have full control of your direct payment funding and will take responsibility for making payments and managing the balance. 

• You receive the direct payment funding from Essex County Council into a dedicated bank account. You will also pay in any personal contribution to that account.
• You will manage the income and expenditure to ensure the account doesn't go overdrawn.
• You will pay invoices directly
• If you employ PAs, you will send timesheets directly to our payroll team who will process what you have submitted
• Our payroll service will process the pay and calculate the tax, national insurance and pension contributions but you will actually pay the PA the net pay out of your direct payment based on the figure on the payslip (this is sometimes called process only payroll). 
• Our payroll service will calculate the tax you owe HMRC on a quarterly or monthly basis and will write to you to tell you what you need to pay and how to pay it. You will pay HMRC directly out of your direct payment account. 
• You will need to keep records to show Essex County Council how you have used your direct payment.
• You will need to remember to renew your employer's liability insurance. 

Most people in Essex currently have a managed account. You may think that you don't want or need that level of support and would prefer to move onto our self-managed direct payment service. This is no problem but we would need to make arrangements to change your funding allocation (where the funding goes, the amount will stay the same) and this would need to be agreed with your social worker. 

What you need to do

If you use the payroll service:

Our payroll service is for people who directly employ their PA. 

You should use the timesheet template that was sent to you in your payroll starter pack. Timesheets should be emailed to the correct email address (see above) by the 1st of each month. If you do not have a copy of your timesheet template (these are personalised to you with your payroll number on it), please email us at payroll@penderelstrust.org.uk to request a copy. 

Please note we do not make automatic rolling monthly payments; if we haven't received a timesheet, your PA will not be paid. Please ensure timesheets include the hourly rate of pay otherwise we won't know how much to pay your PA. We will accept timesheets on formats different to our own if that suits your needs but we do not accept hours worked in an email alone as we need the document as a record of the work and pay. 

If you employ a new PA, you will need to complete a New Employee Form for them. You can download a copy of the form from the bottom of this page. 

Registering with MyView online payroll service

MyView is our service for payroll customers so they and their PAs can view payslips online. It is not for online access to your managed account as this is held on a different system. If you use self-employed PAs only, you do not use MyView.

The correct link is: https://penderelstrust.hcm.zellis.com/myview/dashboard-ui/index.html#/landing

Please do not use the generic My View link, you need the Penderels Trust specific one. 

If you can't log on, please email us at myview@penderelstrust.org.uk where our team will be pleased to help you. MyView is a platform for viewing payslips; if you can't log on, please don't worry, it doesn't mean your PA won't get paid, as that is done in the payroll system that sits behind it. 

If you have self-employed PAs and have a managed account:

- You do not need to fill in any payroll forms for self-employed PAs.
-  There is no invoice template, as self-employed people they can use their own invoice design as long as the information is clear.
- They should send their invoices to essexfinance@penderelstrust.org.uk. Invoices should be submitted on a monthly or 4-weekly basis only.
- We pay on 30 day terms. We do pay most invoices faster than that, however we ask that you only contact us about payment if it has been over the 30 day limit. You do not need to send invoices in on any particular day, we advise avoiding the first week of the calendar month as this is timesheet processing week for employed PAs so the team are extremely busy. We would suggest sending invoices mid-month as it is slightly quieter for the Essex team and our central finance team.

If you have a self-managed account, you should pay invoices directly from your direct payment account. 

Balance of account/statements

We are not able to provide a balance of account or statements yet as we are still waiting on the final account information from the previous provider and Essex County Council. Your finance officer will be able to let you know when this is available. Please be assured that invoices and PA wages will be paid in the meantime. 

Other Queries

For all other queries e.g. around PA recruitment, employer support and general direct payment advice and guidance, our team will be happy to help you. 

PA Finder

For direct payment recipients/employers: Our PA Finder service is an online register of people who want to work as a PA or who are already working as one and wish to find additional hours of work. All PAs on the PA Finder register are looking for employed work. If you need to recruit a PA, please check on the register first before you start any recruitment activity. It's quick and easy to use with step-by-step guidance throughout. Please click on the 'Employer Login' button on the right hand side of this page. You will need to register the first time you use the service but after that, you can log in at any time. As we are relatively new in Essex, it will take time to build up a pool of PAs on the register so please do check back at a later date if there is no one for you right now. Please note that you will need to go through the usual recruitment and vetting procedures if you decide to make contact with a PA on PA Finder. 

For PAs: If you are a PA looking for a new role or additional hours, you can sign up to our PA Finder service free of charge. Simply click on the 'Register for Free' button on the right hand side of this page and follow the instructions. Direct payment employers will be directed to this service if they are looking to recruit a PA so this is a great place to find a PA role. You are able to take yourself off at any time. 

Introduction Video

Watch our introduction video to learn more about Penderels Trust: https://vimeo.com/829841615/a6f9d2954f?share=copy

Watch 'Your Life, Your Direction', a series on how we have supported people to manage their Direct Payment.

EVENTS

Skills for Care have just announced two new webinars that are taking place in November, for people who employ personal assistants. The webinar will bring together a panel of representatives from commissioners, social workers care providers and people who receive care through self-directed support who will be sharing their challenges, best practices examples and top tips to influence positive change through their own experiences of what works well. There will be opportunities to participant in a Q&A and build on your networks.

1. Sharing individual employer and PA best practices with social workers
Tuesday 5 November 2024 | 13:30 - 14:30 | Online - Register now

2. Sharing individual employer and PA best practices with commissioners
Tuesday 26 November 2024 | 13:30 - 14:30 | Online - Register now

We also like to help out PA's and provide leaflets and information which you may find useful. If you care for someone with autism, check out the leaflet in downloads to find out more about the Autism Central Peer Education Programme.