How much to pay relative's carers now that relative has passed away?

[NoonarAgain]

My granny died before Christmas. Thanks to a team of 4 great carers, she was able to stay in her own home until the end. She needed round the clock care at the end, and this obviously was not cheap.

Now that gran has passed away, how much should the carers be paid in lieu of notice? The main carers are of retirement age, and two were friends of extended family stepping in to help my gran out. as far as I know are not rushing to find alternative employment.

I want to be fair to them. There is no written contract, so we have to just do what feels right. They were paid cash weekly. We cannot afford a month's pay for all as that would amount to many thousands of pounds. I said to dh that I'd like to ask them what's they'd feel happy with, but dh says that puts them in a difficult position.

Any thoughts?

Based on the facts presented, it seems clear to me that the people concerned were employees. (I am a tax adviser, BTW.)

Their wages should have been subject to PAYE/NIC. However, it seems highly likely that (based on the sums disclosed) they would have earned below the personal allowance for tax purposes and below the lower earnings limit for NIC purposes. So in practice I would be surprised if there was actually any back tax/NIC due to HMRC. Under the curcumstances I wod hope that HMRC would waive penalties for failing to notify/failing to file employment returns.

It is, BTW, very well established that nannies are employees but that cleaners and gardeners (the sort that do a couple of hours per week kind of thing, not the live in housekeeper and groundsman sort) are self-employed. Last year, from memory something like a dozen self-assessment tax returns were filed by cleaners, but most earn under the relevant limits so HMRC sensibly turn a blind eye to the massive compliance failure .

I would hope

Norfolk it is completely wrong to say that if an employer doesn't pay someone's tax and NI then they are self employed. That is not the test at all. It could simply mean that the OPs gran failed in her obligations to operate PAYE. And yes many workers in the home are employees, this can include nannies, au pairs, housekeepers, cleaners, gardeners. All depends on their individual circumstances. A gardener who comes over for three hours a week and spend the rest of his time working elsewhere, submits an invoice and gets paid, might send his mate Fred when he's got another job on is not an employee. A gardener who only works for one household may well be an employee.

If the workers were carers of your Gran OP and did not also act as carers for others then there is a good chance that they were her employees. She ought therefore to have been paying them correctly, operating PAYE and paying holiday pay etc. However it is impossible to say for sure without seeing the documentation and knowing more about the pay arrangements. There must have been some records? Is there nothing at all? If one of them was earning £1000 a week then that is not a few quid cash in hand, its a significant amount of money and a tax and NI liability will have occurred.

A relative of mine was employed for over 2 years without payslips or proof of tax/NI being paid. Although he lived independently and was very proud to do so he had learning difficulties and didn't understand this was important. Am not sure of the details but it was a huge issue when he was made redundant and then couldn't claim benefits without a fight (because he had no proof of previous employment) which ultimately meant he had to go through a very stressful investigation process with regards to responsibilities for tax, even though he had only earned just over the threshold. A charity was able to help with advice and another family member paid for a lawyer who was able to prove he was in fact an employee. Relative was deeply traumatised by the whole experience and it didn't end too well for the employer.

Only putting this on here in case anyone believes that its a small issue to employ someone without using PAYE facilities.