We are going through that too, so I'll keep you informed of how it goes.
I would say it's funny that certain tactic's are used to scare people; There was a conversation that went along the line's of if you employ someone direct then :
you have to pay and account for the National Insurance and PAYE etc... and that will cost lots of time and is complicated, which then scares folk to pick the local (contracted) services.......
But, why is the person who's caring for you through local (contracted) services not an employee etc..
SO, the key to this is picking a company that provides the care and therefore paying the company and not the person individually.. And you get more choice, as you can pay a little extra time to do other things which may not be covered in the care plan but are important to you, e.g. take them for a 10 minute walk up and down the street..... A Sedentary life-style is what we are really trying to avoid especially after talking to many professionals, we want MOM to be as active as possible.
If there's a person you know can who provide the care, , then ask them to create a company and invoice you, also make sure that they provide care for other people too, or that they have someone else who they know is part of their company who can cover or share the care, that way to only pay a company, they are not your employee as they either provide care for someone else or someone else provides the care to you from their company...... It's really simple and you just pay them by standing order from the personal Budget.
PS the above advice is from an accountant who know's this stuff.......
