Terms and conditions

About these terms

These are the standard terms in the care agreement every client signs with us before care starts. The agreement you sign, together with your Care Plan, is the contract between us. If anything here is unclear, ring us on 01636 646915 and we'll talk it through.

Care provider: Helping at Home Ltd, registered in England, company number 13491489. CQC Location ID 1-25073509786.
Payments collected by: Helping at Home East Midlands Ltd, registered in England, company number 17482600, our group company.
Address (both companies): 65 London Road, Newark, NG24 1RZ
Email: hello@helpingathome.co.uk
Phone: 01636 646915

1. Definitions

• "We", "us", "our" and "Helping at Home" mean Helping at Home Ltd (company number 13491489).
• "You" and "your" mean the client named in the care agreement. Where a representative signs for the client under a valid authority, it means that representative acting for the client.
• "Carer" means a member of our care team who provides care and support to you.
• "Care Plan" means the plan of care we agree with you, as updated from time to time.
• "Agreement" means the care agreement you sign, including these terms, your Care Plan and any consents you give us.
• "Writing" includes email, unless we say otherwise.

2. This agreement

This agreement sets out the terms on which we provide home care to you. It is made up of the care agreement and the Care Plan we agree with you, which may be updated as your needs change.

Please read everything before signing. If it would help, talk it through with a family member, an advocate or a solicitor first. There is no obligation to sign until you're ready. By signing, you agree to us providing the care set out in your Care Plan, and to pay our fees in line with section 8.

3. Your responsibilities

You agree to:

• tell us about any risk to the health or safety of a carer that you know of, and allow us to pass that on to the carer concerned. You'll take reasonable steps to remove such risks, and tell us about them before a visit takes place.
• make sure you, or the homeowner, hold adequate household insurance, including public liability cover, to protect a carer or Helping at Home under the Occupiers' Liability Act 1957.
• give us complete and accurate information about your care needs, so we can provide the right level of care. That includes the support you need, how long you're likely to need it, any specific skills required, and where you live.
• cover us for any claims, fines, damages, costs or other liabilities that result if you don't do the above and it causes loss, including claims brought by a third party.

4. Our commitment to you

We'll provide your care with reasonable care and skill, in line with your Care Plan and the standards expected of a CQC-regulated provider. This reflects your rights under the Consumer Rights Act 2015.

We aim to give each client a core team of up to four carers. We can't promise the same carer for every visit. Nothing in this agreement affects your legal rights as a consumer.

5. Access to your home, keys and personal safety

Where a carer needs to get in and you can't answer the door, we usually agree a key safe or keyholder arrangement with you at assessment. Any key or access code you give us is held securely and used only to provide your care.

Please tell us about anything in your home that could affect a visit, for example a dog that isn't secured, restricted parking, or a need for step-free access. We ask that pets are kept secure during visits unless we've agreed otherwise.

6. Handling your money and property

Our carers don't handle your cash, cards or valuables, and don't accept gifts, loans or bequests from clients. If a carer goes shopping or runs errands with you as part of your Care Plan, you, or someone you nominate, stay responsible for the money involved. A carer may carry money you've given them for a specific, agreed purchase. They will always account for it and give you a receipt.

If you're ever worried this isn't being followed, please tell our Registered Manager, Courtney Pike, straight away.

7. Confidentiality and your information

We collect and hold personal information about you, including health information, so we can provide your care safely. We handle it in line with UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018, and keep it secure and confidential. You can see how in our privacy policy.

We ask for specific consents when you sign, covering how we share information with your GP and other professionals, and who else you'd like kept informed. You can change or withdraw any of these at any time by telling us in writing. Doing so won't affect the care you receive. You can ask to see or correct the information we hold about you at any time.

8. Fees, invoicing and payment

Care is exempt from VAT, so there is no VAT to add. Live-in and overnight care are priced separately; see costs and funding.

We review our fees once a year, in March. We may also review them if economic or legal changes require it, so we can keep our care standards. We'll always aim to give you at least 14 days' notice of any change to your rate.

We accept bank transfer (our preference), Direct Debit, credit or debit card, and cheque. Full details are on every invoice. Payments are collected on our behalf by our group company, Helping at Home East Midlands Ltd (company number 17482600), and paying it settles your invoice with us. See paying your invoice.

Once your care begins:

• scheduled visits are charged for the length of visit set out in your Care Plan.
• if a carer needs to stay longer than planned, at your request or because of an emergency, the extra time is charged at the standard hourly rate, rounded up to the nearest 15 minutes.
• we invoice weekly, in advance. Invoices are payable within 7 days of the invoice date.
• if a carer goes out with you and this involves costs directly related to your care, for example a parking charge where there is no free off-road parking, you'll cover that cost.
• if you'd like a carer to drive you, in your car or theirs, you must make sure the vehicle is roadworthy and properly insured, and that the carer holds a valid licence. If there's an accident, any claim is between you and your insurer.

If your care is funded in whole or in part by direct payments, a personal budget or an NHS personal health budget, and our charges are more than that funding covers, you are responsible for the difference.

Late payment

If an invoice isn't paid on time, we may charge a £25 administration fee to cover our reasonable costs of following it up. We may also charge interest at 8% a year on the unpaid balance from 14 days after the invoice date.

If payment is still outstanding, we may pause your care visits, without affecting our other rights. If an invoice stays unpaid for 7 days or more after that, we may end this agreement with 24 hours' notice. We may also recover our reasonable costs of collecting the debt, including legal costs where necessary.

Employing a member of our care team directly

Our care team is important to us, and we invest in their training. If you employ one of our carers directly, other than through us, during this agreement or within 12 months of it ending, you agree to pay us £2,500. This reflects our reasonable costs of recruiting and training a replacement.

9. Changes to your care visits

We need at least 7 days' written notice for any permanent or ongoing change to your visit days or times. We'll do what we reasonably can to make the change, but it depends on staff availability. We may be able to help with short-notice or emergency changes, but we can't promise it.

10. Cancelling or pausing a visit

If you need to cancel a visit, please give us at least 72 hours' notice. Without that notice, we'll charge the full cost of the visit. This does not apply to an unplanned hospital admission.

If you're admitted to hospital and want to pause your care, give us 48 hours' notice and we won't charge you beyond that point.

We aim to hold your usual visit times open for 7 days, though this depends on circumstances at the time. After that, we'll carry out a new assessment to check your Care Plan still meets your needs. Any further visits then depend on carer availability.

How we credit or refund visits you've already paid for is set out in our cancellation and refund policy.

11. Ending this agreement

You can end this agreement, or ask us to substantially change your care, by giving us 7 days' written notice. If a client passes away, we waive all charges from the date of their passing.

We may end this agreement straight away, by giving you written notice, if:

• we reasonably believe there's a significant risk of harm to our carers.
• an invoice stays unpaid 7 days after our first written reminder.
• a member of our care team experiences, or reasonably believes they've experienced, physical or verbal abuse or sexual or racial harassment, or is asked to do something unreasonable or unlawful.

Under the Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013, you have a 14-day cooling-off period after signing. We won't begin your care during that period unless you ask us to start sooner.

12. Liability and insurance

Nothing in this agreement limits or excludes our liability for death or personal injury caused by our negligence, for fraud, or for anything else that can't be limited or excluded under English law.

Subject to that, our total liability to you for loss of, or damage to, your property caused by our negligence or breach of this agreement is limited to £1,000,000 for any one claim or series of related claims, in line with our public and professional liability insurance.

13. Events outside our control

We won't be responsible for any delay or failure to provide your care caused by something reasonably outside our control, for example severe weather, a public health emergency, or a major IT or utilities failure. We'll let you know as soon as we can, and do what we reasonably can to keep your care going or restart it quickly.

14. Equality and respect

We provide care without discrimination, and expect the same in return, for our team and for you. If either of us has a concern about how the other is being treated, we want to hear about it.

15. Changes to these terms

We may update these terms from time to time, for example to reflect a change in the law or in how we run our service. We'll give you at least 14 days' written notice of any material change. You're free to end this agreement under section 11 if you don't wish to continue.

16. General

• This agreement, together with your Care Plan and the consents you give us, is the whole agreement between us about your care. It replaces any earlier discussion or understanding.
• This agreement is governed by the law of England and Wales, and both of us agree to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of England and Wales.
• If any part of this agreement is found to be unenforceable, the rest still applies.
• If we don't enforce a right under this agreement on one occasion, that doesn't stop us enforcing it later.
• Notices under this agreement should be in writing, by email or post, to the addresses in the care agreement, or any address either of us later confirms in writing.
• A person who isn't a party to this agreement has no right to enforce any part of it under the Contracts (Rights of Third Parties) Act 1999.

Complaints

If something isn't right, please tell us. Our complaints page explains how we handle concerns, and who else you can go to if you're not satisfied with our answer.