Before you close your DP account, think about the following:
Contracts to be cancelled
You should make sure that any contracts you have with care agencies or other services (e.g. payroll services) have been cancelled and that the correct amount of notice has been given and any outstanding fees have been paid.
Outstanding invoices
Invoices which remain outstanding when your direct payments cease may include:
- Care agency fees
- HRMC tax and national insurance bills
- Pension’s contribution payments
- Contributions payments
- Payroll fees
- Self-employed PA’s invoices
You must make sure you have paid all these invoices before you close the account.
PA wages and additional payments
You must make sure that your PAs have been given the correct notice period.
When your PA’s employment ends there are a number of payments that may need to be made to them (if applicable):
- wages: Any outstanding wages owed to your PA must be paid.
- outstanding holiday: If your PA cannot take their outstanding holiday during the notice period then outstanding holiday will need to be given as a payment to your PA.
- expenses and mileage: Any outstanding expenses and mileage claims should be paid at the end of the employment.
- notice payments: Your PA should usually work their notice. However, in some situations this may not be appropriate so you can pay them money in lieu. Please call our information and advice team on 01903 219482 if you think this may be the case.
- redundancy payments: If you are making your PA redundant you may need to make a redundancy payment. For further advice on this please call our information and advice team on 01903 219482 or go to https://www.gov.uk/calculate-your-redundancy-pay.
If your DP is funded by All Age ContinuingCare(AACC),thenany redundancy and notice payments will need to be approved by panel before payments are made. For further advice on this, please contact our information and advice team.
If you use a payroll service they can organise for any relevant payments to be made in your PA’s last wage slip and they will also process a P45 when all the payments have been made. If you do not use a payroll service you will need to organise for these payments to be made yourself.
Outstanding cheques
Any cheques written to staff, services or agencies need to be cleared through your DP bank account before you close it. You should make sure all cheques are accounted for on the last bank statement.
It is good not to rush this step. Paying back too much money to your local authority could prolong the whole process.
Standing orders and direct debits
Make sure that all standing orders or direct debits have been cancelled. If you are not sure how to do this, then contact your bank and ask how best to go about this.
Client contribution payments
Ensure your client contribution payments have stopped if you normally pay them.
Remaining funds
Any funds remaining in the account belong to the authority funding your DP. You should write a cheque or arrange a bank transfer for this amount and ask the bank to close the account. Don’t forget to send your last bank statement, showing a nil balance, to the finance department responsible for issuing your DP. The AACC will also ask for a bank statement showing the remaining balance before asking for this to be paid back. If you have a pre-paid card through your local authority then the funds will be returned to the local authority when the prepaid card account is closed.