Helper Platform Agreement

This agreement is between Witho Services Ltd and you, the helper. It sets out the basis on which you use the Witho platform to be introduced to clients. It is not a contract of employment and it is not a contract to provide care — see clause 3.

1. What Witho is

1.1Witho is an introduction agency. We introduce people who want practical support at home to self-employed helpers who provide it. We are not a care provider and we are not registered with the Care Quality Commission, because the support provided through Witho is not a regulated activity.

1.2The arrangement for support is made directly between you and the client. Witho is not a party to it. We introduce, we carry out checks, and we provide the tools for booking and payment — nothing more.

1.3Before support begins you and the client should agree what will be done, when, and at what rate, using the service agreement. That agreement is yours, not ours.

2. Becoming approved

2.1You may not accept any introduction until all of the following are complete. There are no exceptions and no provisional listings.

• DBS. A current certificate obtained through Care Check. We must see the original, not a copy or a photograph, and we record the certificate number and issue date.
• DBS Update Service. You must subscribe and remain subscribed, and authorise us to check your status.
• Identity. Photo identification checked against you in person or by video call, and your mobile number verified separately.
• Right to work. Evidence of your right to work in the United Kingdom.
• Address. Your home address, verified independently.
• References. Two references, which we take up by telephone.
• Interview. With a member of the Witho team.
• Driving. If you drive clients: a valid licence and motor insurance including business use. Social and domestic cover is not sufficient.
• Payments. A connected Stripe account, so that you can be paid.
• Insurance declaration. You must read and respond to the insurer’s declaration at witho.co.uk/helper/insurance. Cover does not apply until you have.

2.1aYou must declare, when you apply, whether you have ever been the subject of an investigation or enquiry into abuse, neglect or other inappropriate behaviour. A declaration does not automatically rule you out — we will discuss it with you. Failing to declare it does, and it may also invalidate the insurance in clause 9.

2.2You must tell us within five working days of anything that would change the outcome of these checks, including any caution, charge or conviction, the lapse of your motor insurance, or a change to your right to work.

2.3You pay for your own DBS check. Witho reimburses the fee alongside your first completed booking. The certificate belongs to you and you may use it elsewhere.

3. Your status — self-employed

3.1You are self-employed. You are not an employee, worker, agent or partner of Witho, and nothing in this agreement creates any of those relationships.

3.2You set your own hourly rate, subject to the minimum in clause 5.1. Witho does not set, negotiate, cap or recommend what you charge.

3.3You decide your own availability and are free to accept or decline any introduction without giving a reason. Witho is under no obligation to offer you work and you are under no obligation to accept any.

3.4You decide how you carry out the support you agree with a client. Witho does not supervise, direct, appraise or manage your work, and does not provide or require training.

3.5You may work for anyone else, including other platforms and agencies, at any time. This agreement is not exclusive.

3.6You are responsible for your own income tax and National Insurance, and for registering with HM Revenue & Customs. You are not entitled to holiday pay, sick pay, pension contributions or any other employment benefit from Witho.

3.7You are responsible for your own equipment and for any expenses you incur, except those a client has separately agreed to reimburse.

4. What you provide — and what you must not

4.1Support through Witho means practical help with daily life: companionship, shopping and errands, transport and appointments, household help, meal preparation, admin and technology, small household and garden tasks, overnight sitting, and respite placements.

4.2You must not, under any circumstances, provide any of the following:

• Washing, bathing, dressing, undressing or toileting
• Administering medication. You may remind and prompt only — you must not take medication from a container or give it to anyone
• Lifting, hoisting, or assisting anyone to transfer
• Wound care, injections, catheter or stoma care, or any clinical or nursing task
• Anything a district nurse, registered carer or other regulated professional should be doing

4.2aYou must never attempt to lift or move anything heavy on your own. If something needs shifting and the right equipment or a second person is not available, stop and say so — to the client and to us. Nobody at Witho will think less of you for it, and no task is worth an injury.

4.3This boundary is not negotiable and does not change because a client asks, because it seems kind, or because it is an emergency short of one requiring 999. If a client needs any of it, stop and tell us the same day so we can help them find a registered provider.

4.4 If you provide personal care to a Witho client, you place both yourself and Witho outside the basis on which this service lawfully operates, and outside the insurance in clause 9. It is grounds for immediate removal from the platform.

5. Your rate

5.1You set your own hourly rate. The minimum rate on the Witho platform is £20.00 per hour. There is no maximum.

5.2You receive 100% of the rate you set. Witho takes no commission, no platform fee, no subscription and no joining fee from you, and makes no deduction from what you charge.

5.3Witho charges the client a service fee of 10%, added to their total. It is never taken from your rate.

5.4You may change your rate at any time. Changes apply to new bookings only.

5.5For respite and overnight placements, you agree with the client the number of active hours each day at your hourly rate, plus a separate overnight presence supplement which you also set. Travel to and from a placement is agreed with the client and paid by them.

6. How you are paid

6.1Clients pay Witho by card at the point of booking. Witho holds the payment and transfers your full amount to your connected Stripe account, and onward to your bank, approximately 48 hours after the visit.

6.2Payment is released only after you have confirmed that the visit took place. Confirming a visit is how you invoice for it. Witho does not pay for a visit that has not been confirmed.

6.3If you report that a visit did not go ahead or was cut short, or if the client raises a problem within the window, payment is held while we look into it and agree what is fair with both of you.

6.4You must confirm honestly. Confirming a visit that did not take place is grounds for immediate removal and, if payment has been taken, for recovery of the sum.

7. Cancellations

7.1If a client cancels a visit with less than 48 hours’ notice, you may charge for it, because you will usually have turned down other work for that time. It is your decision rather than an automatic charge, and we would expect most helpers to waive it where someone is genuinely ill.

7.2Record it on the after-visit form so that payment releases correctly. The client is told when a late-cancellation charge is made and has 48 hours to raise it with us.

7.3If you cancel, the client is not charged. Give as much notice as you can, and tell them as soon as you know if you are unwell.

8. All payments go through Witho

8.1You must not accept payment directly from a Witho client for support arranged through Witho, whether in cash, by transfer, or by any other means.

8.2This is not about protecting a fee — we take nothing from you. It is because the insurance in clause 9, the payment record, and the protections in this agreement apply only to visits booked and paid for through the platform. A private arrangement leaves you personally exposed.

8.3Agreed expenses such as shopping money or mileage are settled directly with the client and are outside this clause. You must give the client receipts for anything you buy on their behalf.

8.4If a client you met through Witho asks to arrange support privately, tell us. We will not penalise you for it.

9. Insurance

9.1Witho holds and pays for a group policy covering every helper for the work they do through the platform. You do not apply for it, pay for it, or need public liability cover of your own. Standard cover provides public liability up to £2,000,000, legal expenses up to £25,000, personal accident up to £10,000, income protection of £130 a week for up to 12 weeks following accident or sickness, personal and client possessions up to £250, a 24-hour legal and tax advice helpline, and no excess.

9.1aThe insurer requires you to have read and accepted their declaration before cover applies. If any statement in it is not true of you, say so — it does not automatically rule you out, and we will take it up with the insurer. Confirming a statement that is not true can void your own cover.

9.2That cover applies only to visits booked and paid for through Witho. Anything you arrange privately with a client is outside it — see clause 8.

9.3The policy does not cover your vehicle. If you drive clients, you must hold motor insurance including business use, and provide evidence on request.

9.4Witho providing this cover does not make you an employee or worker, and does not give Witho any right to direct how you work. Clause 3 continues to apply.

10. Conduct

10.1You must arrive when you said you would and tell the client as early as you can if you cannot; do what you and the client agreed and discuss anything beyond it with them first; give receipts for money spent on a client’s behalf; report any concern about a client’s welfare; and treat everything you learn about a client and their household as confidential.

10.2You must not handle a client’s money beyond agreed shopping; hold or use their bank card, PIN or online banking; accept gifts beyond a small token or accept or offer any loan; have any involvement in a client’s will, property or financial affairs, or accept any benefit under a will; introduce anyone else into a client’s home without their agreement; consume alcohol or non-prescribed drugs before or during a visit; or smoke or vape in a client’s home.

11. Safeguarding

11.1If you believe anyone is at immediate risk, call 999 first. Then tell us at safeguarding@witho.co.uk or 0345 351 0207 the same day.

11.2You must report any concern about a client’s safety or welfare, including anything you are unsure about. You do not need evidence and you will never be criticised for raising something that turns out to be nothing.

11.3Where a concern is raised about you, we will pause you from all introductions while a director reviews it. Pausing is not a finding against you. We will tell you what has been raised, in a way that does not compromise anyone’s safety, and you will have the opportunity to respond.

11.4We refer matters to the local authority or the police where the threshold is met, and make a referral to the DBS barring service where the law requires it.

12. Witho Pulse

12.1Where a client has asked for it, you may leave a short note after a visit describing how they seemed. This is entirely optional.

12.2Whether you complete it makes no difference to your payment, your standing on the platform, or the introductions you are offered.

12.3Record only what you observed. These notes are shared with the client’s family and are not a clinical assessment.

13. Your information

13.1We process your information as set out in our privacy policy. We are the data controller and are registered with the Information Commissioner’s Office, reference ZC222580.

13.2Your profile is written by you and published on the platform. We show your first name and initial rather than your full name, and we do not publish your address, telephone number or email.

13.3When you accept an introduction, the client’s contact details are shared with you and yours with them, so that you can make arrangements.

13.4We keep records of the checks in clause 2 for the duration of your registration and for six years afterwards.

14. Ending this agreement

14.1You may leave at any time, for any reason, with no notice and no penalty. Please complete any visits already booked, or let the client and us know as soon as you can if you cannot.

14.2We may end this agreement immediately where a check in clause 2 lapses or is failed, where clause 4 or clause 10 is breached, where a safeguarding concern is upheld, or where you confirm a visit that did not take place.

14.3We may otherwise end this agreement on seven days’ notice, without giving a reason.

14.4Ending this agreement does not affect payment owed for visits already completed and confirmed.

15. Liability

15.1Nothing in this agreement limits liability for death or personal injury caused by negligence, for fraud, or for anything else that cannot lawfully be limited.

15.2Witho introduces and carries out the checks in clause 2. We do not supervise or direct the support you provide, and we are not responsible for it.

15.3Subject to clause 15.1, Witho’s liability to you is limited to the total service fees Witho received in respect of your bookings in the twelve months before the claim.

15.4You are responsible for the support you provide and for any loss or damage caused by your acts or omissions.

16. General

16.1We may update these terms. Where a change materially affects you we will give at least fourteen days’ notice by email. If you do not agree you may leave under clause 14.1.

16.2This agreement is personal to you. You may not transfer it or send someone else in your place to a Witho introduction.

16.3If any clause is found unenforceable, the rest continues to apply.

16.4This agreement is governed by the law of England and Wales, and the courts of England and Wales have exclusive jurisdiction.

Acceptance

By using the Witho platform you confirm that you have read and understood this agreement, that you are self-employed, that the information you have given Witho is true, and that you have read and accept the boundary in clause 4.

Questions? Ring 0345 351 0207 or email carers@witho.co.uk.