Surewise calls for redundancy protection for family members filling Britain’s care gap

Leading insurance intermediary Surewise is calling on the government to change the law so that family members employed as a personal assistant (PA) caring for a loved one with direct payments have the same right to redundancy pay as other care workers.

Under Section 161 of the Employment Rights Act 1996, people employed as domestic workers in a private household are excluded from statutory redundancy pay where their employer is a close family member specified in the Act.

If the person they care for dies or moves into inpatient care, the PA can be left grieving or under severe emotional strain while also facing the financial impact of being denied redundancy pay after years, or even decades, of care work.

An unrelated PA doing the same job, under the same direct payment and with the same length of service, could be entitled to statutory redundancy pay in these circumstances, while a close family member covered by Section 161 is specifically excluded.

Surewise is calling for reform to the Act so they can legally accept claims from family members who are made redundant for legitimate reasons. The intermediary says the provision, which dates back three decades, has failed to keep pace with the increasingly important role family members can play in delivering paid care through direct payments.

Stuart Bensusan, co-director at Surewise, said: “In some circumstances, a family member can be employed and paid to provide care for years but find they do not have redundancy protection when that employment ends.

“We are calling on the government to review the Employment Rights Act so family members employed through direct payments are not unfairly excluded from a redundancy payout simply because of their relationship with the person they care for.”

The call comes as England’s social care sector continues to face significant workforce pressures. According to Skills for Care, the adult social care sector in England has around 96,000 vacancies on any given day.

The closure of the care-worker visa route to new overseas applicants in July 2025 has put further pressure on recruitment, with the charity’s latest workforce data projecting that around 410,000 additional posts could be needed by 2040 to keep pace with an ageing population.

Surewise is also calling for clearer national guidance around the use of direct payments to employ family carers.

Under current direct payment rules, a person can employ a relative who lives outside their household as a PA. However, where the relative lives in the same household, direct payments can only be used to pay them for providing care where the local authority considers this necessary to meet the person’s needs.

Surewise says the discretion within the current framework can lead to different approaches between local authorities, creating inconsistencies for families about whether a relative living in the same household can be employed to provide care.

Stuart Bensusan added: “We want to see clearer national guidance around employing family members who live in the same household. Greater clarity at a national level would give councils more certainty, while helping families understand what support they can expect.

“Elsewhere in the UK we can see scope for a more supportive approach. In Wales, while councils still need to be satisfied that employing a family member is necessary, the guidance recognises that a relative living in the same household can sometimes be the most appropriate person to provide care. Scotland goes further, allowing family members to provide paid support subject to appropriate safeguards, without the same necessity test.

“At a time when social care continues to face significant workforce pressures, we should be making it easier to support people who are willing and able to provide high-quality care for someone they know, while ensuring they are properly protected when they do so.”

Surewise is urging the government to review the legislation affecting redundancy rights for family members employed as PAs and to work with local authorities and the social care sector to develop clearer, more consistent national guidance around the use of direct payments to employ relatives living in the same household.

For more information, please visit www.surewise.com.

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Editors notes

For more information, please contact:

Fran Herring, Rose Lock or Alex Hankinson

Midnight Communications

surewise@midnight.co.uk

T: 01273 666 200

About Surewise

Surewise is a leading specialist insurance intermediary which offers a variety of insurance products, including mobility, carers and storage insurance to customers across the UK.

Surewise provides insurance through a partnership with underwriters SAGIC, the Salvation Army General Insurance Corporation, whose profits support Salvation Army charities and give back to vulnerable members of society, including people experiencing homelessness, human trafficking, poverty and unemployment.

Based in Hadleigh in Essex, its growing team is united by a passion to build trust, care and fairness within the insurance sector.

As of 2026, Surewise has more than 15,000 reviews on Trustpilot, with an overall 'Excellent' rating of 4.8.