Guide to direct payments
3. Help with direct payments
Choosing direct payments can mean a little extra work for you in arranging your own support. Some people find this easy and others can find it a bit harder.
We use an organisation called Independent Lives which offers free support if you choose to employ a personal assistant.
This includes:
- understanding the rules that employers must follow, such as employment law, insurance, tax and national insurance
- writing job descriptions
- recruiting staff
- performing checks on possible personal assistants
- ongoing support with being an employer
Buying services
You can also choose to buy services from one of our three direct payment support services:
- Independent Lives
- PeoplePlus
- Purple
They all offer a payroll service which calculates how much you need to pay your personal assistants each month and what you must pay in tax.
Contact the direct payment support services
Find out more about each direct payment support services, including what they offer and how much this costs:
Independent Lives
Phone: 01903 219 482 (option 3)
Email: advice@independentlives.org
Website: Independent Lives
PeoplePlus
Phone: 0330 123 2815
Email: ilseastsussex@peopleplus.co.uk
Website: PeoplePlus
Purple
Phone: 01323 403478
Email: eastsussex@purple-dpss.co.uk
Website: Purple
