nihr payment guidance for patient & public involvement
TRANSCRIPT
NIHR payment guidance for Patient & Public Involvement &
EngagementA 2021 update
21 April 2021
Silvia BortoliSenior Public Involvement Manager
NIHR Centre for Engagement and Dissemination
Aims of the presentation
• Explain process undertaken to update the NIHR payment guidance
• Highlight key points and take-home messages
• Start ongoing conversation and solicit feedback
With thanks to Judy Scott, independent consultant on welfare benefits and involvement
Three documents published 7 April 2021
1. Payment guidance for researchers and professionals
Includes section on reward and recognition for children and young people
2. Payment guidance for members of the public
3. Welfare benefits Jobcentre Letter
Payment guidance development process
Aim was to update guidance to ensure it is:
● Up to date, reflecting changes in sector● Useful ● Easy to use● Addresses challenges and barriers
Payment guidance development process
● Review INVOLVE payment guidance
● Consult with Judy Scott, welfare benefits expert
● Conversations with researchers, PPI professionals and public contributors to understand challenges and barriers
● Meeting with Department of Health and Social Care on tax
● Conversations with UK-wide funders and NHS
Role of NIHR payment guidance
● Provide guidance and advice to enable efficient and easy payment of public contributors
● Provide useful information for members of the public considering involvement in research
● Help navigate the system and make informed decisions
● Not prescriptive (eg. payment rates)
● NIHR is one of many funders and organisations providing payments guidance
Guidance content - what I will cover
• Budgeting for involvement
• Payment systems
• Tax and employment status
• Welfare benefits
Budgeting for involvement
What to budget for?
• Payments to individuals (for time, skills and expertise)
• Reimbursement of expenses
• Involvement activity
• Involvement staffing
• Other costs such as DBS checks or language translation
Budgeting for involvement
Payment rates (for time, skills and expertise)
• No nationally recommended rates of payment• Set payment rates considering:
• Type of involvement• Your budget and financial constraints• Organisation policies/ examples• NIHR payment rates as guide or benchmark
Budgeting for involvement
• Public contributors have the right to decline offer of payment, or request to be paid less
• Involvement is not participation
Payment systems
Challenges:• Variety of methods• Payments made through existing payment systems which are
inflexible and not fit-for-purpose• Payment systems and processes are sometimes set up for
professional, corporate suppliers rather than patients or members of the public
• Staff find ‘workaround’ solutions to pay public contributors, often taking on significant administrative burden, but struggle to implement long-term sustainable change
Payment systems
No standard one-size-fits all approach to involvement or payments
The way public contributors are paid will depend on • local organisational/ institutional circumstances• involvement activity• likely employment status
Example payment methods:• Bank transfer• Cash• Voucher• Payroll
Payment systems
Engage with finance and/or human resources as soon as possible to find out about the payment systems in place in your organisation.
Explain public involvement, typical public contributor roles and variety of activities.
Consult with members of the public about how they would like to receive payment or acknowledgement for their contributions.
Case studies and examples of good practice - coming soon.
Tax and employment status
“Is public involvement employment?”
Inconsistency in approaches to treatment of involvement payments and tax status
Organisation risk-aversion
Tax and employment status
Organisations have the responsibility to understand the tax rules and apply them to their own systems and processes.
Individuals are liable for tax and should take care to be involved in this process and seek independent advice where necessary.
Tax and employment status
To determine employment status:
Main source of guidance to make this determination is HMRC
1. Understand HMRC definitions for:a. Employeeb. Self-employedc. Worker (including casual worker)d. Volunteer
For example, HMRC website states that “An employee is someone who works under an employment contract” - you can rule out this scenario if public contributor doesn’t have a contracthttps://www.gov.uk/employment-status/employee
Tax and employment status
To determine employment status:
2. Use HMRC tool and guidance
HMRC ‘Check employment status for tax’ to check whether someone might be considered as employed or self-employed in law for tax purposes.
If neither employee or self-employed, review HMRC definitions of ‘worker’ and ‘volunteer’
Tax and employment status
To determine employment status:
3. Consider the ‘HMRC 2004 Employment Income Manual (EIM71105) on Research volunteers, lay participants and participants in clinical trials guidance’ This guidance states that attending meetings to inform the research process and direction “are unlikely to fall within the definition of “earnings” for PAYE or NI purposes. No employment relationship exists” and that as such “there will be no tax or NIC liability arising on the individual if the sums received do no more than reimburse the individual’s reasonable costs of participating in the trial or research”.
Tax and employment status
Findings from reviewing HMRC guidance should help determine employment status, and consequently the associated tax implications
Outcome might also influence payment method
Decisions should be discussed and agreed with finance and/or human resources, and public contributors
Welfare benefits
• Benefits can be affected if payment for involvement is made• There are strict limits on the amount of money that people receiving
welfare benefits can earn• Where people are receiving state benefits they are required to notify
Jobcentre Plus of any paid or voluntary activity; they may also need permission to undertake any paid activity
• Welfare benefits regulations can be complicated. In the NIHR guidance you can find detailed up-to-date information which reflects recent changes to the regulations
• Liaison with Jobcentre Plus: guidance for public involvement and example letter
• It is advisable in all cases for individuals to seek advice before starting involvement activities
Benefits Advice Service
This free, confidential and personalised service is coordinated by the Bedford Citizens Advice Bureau to support members of the public whose welfare benefits may be affected by payment for involvement.
It can be accessed by:• members of the public involved with NIHR organisations or NIHR
funded research projects• researchers and staff within NIHR organisations or NIHR funded
research projects who are supporting members of the public to get involved
Benefits Advice Service
Some other health and social care research organisations also subscribe to this service. Other partners who are also part of the service are:
• Health Research Authority• Social Care Institute for Excellence• NHS England• Health and Care Research Wales (was Involving People)
For more information on how to access this service, please contact the NIHR Centre for Engagement and Dissemination [email protected]
Resources and further information
• NIHR Payments guidance for members of the public
• NIHR Payments guidance for researchers and professionals
• Welfare Benefits Jobcentre Letter
• Judy Scott Consultancy - Involvement and Benefits
• NIHR Briefing Notes for Researchers
• NIHR Centre for Engagement and Dissemination recognition payments for public contributors
Thank you for listening
@BortoliS
@NIHRInvolvement
@NIHREvidence
Image credits: Flaticon