A guide for a family starting to employ a carer at home: the routes to employment, what the contract should contain, which documents to keep, the effect on a long-term care claim, and the mistakes that cost the most.
Three routes to employment
When a family decides paid help is needed, several routes are open to it. The difference between them is not only cost but responsibility, flexibility and paperwork.
The first: care hours through the long-term care benefit. National Insurance allocates hours supplied through an approved care company. The family is not the employer, and the paperwork is minimal.
The second: privately employing an Israeli carer, by the hour or full-time. Here the family is the employer, with everything that follows — payslips, employment rights, insurance.
The third: employing a foreign care worker, which requires a permit and a process with the Population and Immigration Authority, and usually the involvement of a private agency.
What the contract should contain
Even where the employment looks straightforward, a written contract saves misunderstandings — and in the insurance context it is also a document of value.
- A list of duties — what exactly the carer is expected to do
- Hours and days, including night hours where relevant
- Pay, the method of payment and when it falls due
- Arrangements for holiday, sickness and rest days
- Terms for ending the employment on both sides
- Accommodation and sleeping arrangements, where relevant
The effect on a long-term care claim
This is the point most families do not think about at the start and discover later. Employing a carer is strong evidence of functional dependency — but only if it is documented.
More than that: if the policy is of the indemnity type, meaning it pays against proved expenditure, the supporting documents are not a nice-to-have but a condition of payment.
So the rule is simple: keep everything from the first day. Contract, payslips, transfer confirmations, receipts from the agency. Reconstructing it retrospectively after two years is usually impossible.
Set out what the carer does — not merely that one exists
In a claim, the sentence "we employ a carer" says less than it seems to. What matters is what the carer actually does.
"Helps around the house" can be read as cleaning. "Washes, dresses, feeds and accompanies to the toilet" is a description of dependency in the very activities the policy definition speaks about.
So it is worth having the contract itself set out the duties, and having the functional description list the activities rather than merely noting that someone is employed.
Mistakes that cost the most
From experience, there is a clear pattern of mistakes that recur among families employing carers.
- Paying cash with no documentation at all, over years
- Employment without a contract setting out the duties
- Not checking whether a long-term care policy exists before the employment starts
- Not checking entitlement to the long-term care benefit, which may fund some of the hours
- Not notifying the insurer when the scale of employment increases significantly
- Not keeping documents after a previous carer's employment ends
Frequently asked questions
What routes exist for employing a carer at home?
Care hours through the long-term care benefit via an approved care company, private employment of an Israeli carer where the family is the employer, or employing a foreign care worker with a permit from the Population and Immigration Authority.
What should the employment contract contain?
A list of duties, hours and days, pay and method of payment, arrangements for holiday and sickness, terms for ending it, and accommodation arrangements where relevant. The list of duties matters for the insurance claim too.
Which documents should we keep?
A signed contract, payslips, payment or transfer confirmations, and receipts from an agency or care company — from the first day. Under an indemnity policy these are a condition of payment, not merely a recommendation.
Why does it matter to set out what the carer does?
'Helps around the house' can be read as cleaning. 'Washes, dresses, feeds and accompanies to the toilet' is a description of dependency in the activities the policy definition refers to.
Can a carer be funded through the long-term care benefit?
The long-term care benefit may include care hours supplied through an approved care company, and under certain conditions there is also an option of a cash component. The rules have to be established with National Insurance.
Official sources for further checking
This is general information and does not replace personal medical, legal or insurance advice. Eligibility is determined by the documents and rules that apply to each case.
