Can a care agency demand my pas have business insurance before they can take me out in their cars?

martie1118
martie1118 Community member Posts: 41 Connected
edited October 2022 in Transport and travel
Can a care agency demand all my pas to have business insurance before they can take me out in their cars, I was with another agency who didn't mind because they say as friend they could take anyone out and they wanted me to take me out, but they are frightened of losing their jobs and I do not want to lose them. The reason my pas is unable to get this insurance is the cost, as I understand it I or my pas are not a business they are so don't have a responsibility for it.

Comments

  • poppy123456
    poppy123456 Community member Posts: 59,054 Championing
    If your PA’s are taking you out in their own car then they need business insurance because if they had an accident while working they wouldn’t be insured. 
  • martie1118
    martie1118 Community member Posts: 41 Connected
    Correct me if I am wrong if they took me out when they not working that would be ok, after all they drive their friends about.  
  • poppy123456
    poppy123456 Community member Posts: 59,054 Championing
    When they are not working, it's completely different.
  • martie1118
    martie1118 Community member Posts: 41 Connected
    What's the difference? 
  • poppy123456
    poppy123456 Community member Posts: 59,054 Championing
    Business insurance is for when you’re working.
  • martie1118
    martie1118 Community member Posts: 41 Connected
    So if they were to take me out in their time it's fine, again the rules are against me. 
  • ShirleyW
    ShirleyW Community member Posts: 353 Empowering

    The business insurance is there for your protection as well as others.

    How would you feel if there was an accident and you were hurt, and the insurance company decided that they should have had business insurance because you are one of their clients?

    The insurance company would refuse to pay out.  You could be badly hurt and not entitled to any compensation.   Or an innocent person could be hurt or their car damaged and there would be no insurance to pay to put things right.

    The rules are for a very good reason and insurance companies are very good at finding out things.
  • poppy123456
    poppy123456 Community member Posts: 59,054 Championing
    Yes. The rules aren’t against you at all. It is needed for certain aspects of work related driving, such as taking clients out etc. 
    My daughter looks after children in a care home. Although the home has their own car my daughter uses hers sometimes if they need to take the children to different places. Before she could use her car she had to add business insurance to it, otherwise she couldn’t use it for this purpose. 
    If your carer had an accident while you were in the car then this can course all sorts of issues, including having their car insurance cancelled by the insurance company. 
  • martie1118
    martie1118 Community member Posts: 41 Connected
    So, what I think both of you are saying is if I bought my own car for my pas to drive, I wouldn't need business insurance? My doctor is getting very concerned because I have severe depression since I can't go out. I enjoyed going out and now I have nothing. 
  • poppy123456
    poppy123456 Community member Posts: 59,054 Championing
    edited October 2022
    No, that's not what we were saying. However, you are correct but i don't understand why you would want to go to the expense of a car, Insurance, MOT, fuel and other costs when it wouldn't cost much extra for your PA to add the business insurance to her exisiting insurance. My daughter only paid an extra £45 a year, which is a fraction of the cost of buying yourself a car for them to drive. 
  • martie1118
    martie1118 Community member Posts: 41 Connected
    All my PAs have had quotes and they have been very high indeed they couldn't afford it. 
  • L_Volunteer
    L_Volunteer Community Volunteer Adviser, Scope Member Posts: 7,925 Championing
    That sounds really sad and difficult @martie118 :(
  • martie1118
    martie1118 Community member Posts: 41 Connected
    I enjoyed going out with my PAs. We all had fun until social services brought an agency in to take over and all my PAs came with me. Now it's a living hell, {self-funded until they in their wisdom decided to bring in an agency at £8.00 more per hour than they were paying me for 24/7 care. Can anyone understand why social services moan about not having enough money when waste it like this? Also, could anyone please tell me where I can make a complaint about social services on this and five other things, I proved to them they were completely wrong on every single one with no apology whatsoever, I did make a complaint once and who investigated it the director of our local Social Security services and I cannot see how he/she can be completely unbiased?  
  • poppy123456
    poppy123456 Community member Posts: 59,054 Championing
    See link. https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/department-of-health-and-social-care/about/complaints-procedure

  • janer1967
    janer1967 Community member Posts: 21,922 Championing
    Could you not pay towards the cost of the additional insurance for one of your pa would be less than buying a car like you said above 
  • martie1118
    martie1118 Community member Posts: 41 Connected
    I could try and find the money from somewhere not sure where.  
  • poppy123456
    poppy123456 Community member Posts: 59,054 Championing
    martie1118 said:
    I could try and find the money from somewhere not sure where.  

    Yet you were considering buying a car so they can drive it, which would cost considerably more...

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