It’s the holiday season again and your VA is probably trying to arrange a substitute to cover school holiday cover and trips to the seaside. Some are even going on package holidays abroad.
How do you feel about your VA arranging a substitute?
Some clients get very nervous about this. Your first instinct may be to say “No – I hired you and it is you and only you I want”. You may have all sorts of legitimate concerns about how a substitute could handle the work, data security and client confidentiality.
Before you make that decision, there are some things you really ought to consider:
Not permitting substitutes has consequences
If your VA is not genuinely allowed to send a suitably qualified substitute, that can be an important sign that the relationship looks more like personal service than an independent business arrangement. Substitution is not the only employment-status test, but it is an important one.
Substitutes, sole traders and tax
If your VA is not running a company this can mean you run the risk of HMRC deciding they should be on PAYE (with all the back tax penalties that can involve) or deciding that your VA is a worker entitled to statutory holidays (and other rights). This can result in you being fined for non-payment/late payment of tax.
HMRC’s Check Employment Status for Tax (CEST) tool can be used by hirers and workers to check employment status for tax and whether the off-payroll working (IR35) rules apply to an engagement.
If you think this can’t happen then you need to check out what has happened to Hermes, Deliveroo and Pimlico Plumbers (along with many others) who controlled their freelancers in a way it made them workers and/or employees.
The right to send a suitably qualified substitute is one of the factors employment tribunals and HMRC can look at when deciding whether someone is genuinely self-employed, a worker or an employee. A substitution clause that exists only on paper will not necessarily help: what matters is whether there is a genuine right of substitution in practice.
Substitutes and IR35
If your VA works through their own company, employment-status questions do not simply disappear. The off-payroll working (IR35) rules may also need to be considered, depending on who the client is and the circumstances of the engagement.
A genuine right of substitution is relevant to status, but it is not a magic phrase that decides the issue on its own. Look at how the relationship works in practice as a whole.
GDPR and substitutes
If your VA has access to confidential information – particular client information or data that identifies living individuals, you should already be properly contracted with them for data security in line with GDPR. You will also need to have given them written instructions on how to process this data. This may be a separate Data Processing Agreement or part of your contracting and booking process.
You should check that your VA has made appropriate contractual and data-security arrangements with their substitute and has passed on the written data-processing instructions that apply to the work. If the substitute will process personal data for you, the GDPR rules on sub-processors also need to be dealt with properly.
Both your VA and their substitute should have a functioning knowledge of GDPR and how to apply it (and you should too!).
Create new logins for substitutes
Create new individual logins for your VA substitute so you can make sure you can see clearly what they are accessing and doing. Login sharing makes tracking really difficult and should only be done when there is really no alternative. It also makes multi-factor authentication pretty tricky and you don’t want to be turning that off.
It can be a false economy to not want to pay for an additional log in – particularly for programmes that let you alter your subscription monthly.
There are a few that charge your headcount annually which may leave you with very little choice.
Who is paying the substitute
Normally you would pay your VA and they would pay their substitute. You might want to check who is paying who but the standard setup is of the primary VA paying the substitute is what you can expect.
If you pay the substitute directly or provide the substitute yourself, that may point away from your VA exercising a genuine right of substitution themselves. The practical arrangements matter, not simply whether the contract contains the word ‘substitution’.
What is a suitably qualified substitute?
Your VA will present you with one or more substitutes. It is quite common to find one for one element of the role and another substitute for another. Sometimes if you are not buying a large number of weekly hours, one substitute will be able to manage all your tasks.
Your substitute VA will need to be briefed by your regular VA on exactly how you like things to work. This will be something the VA takes the time to do out of their own time and usually at their own expense. This is part of running their VA business after all.
The substitute should have the appropriate skill set to handle your work. For many tasks, these are ‘mechanical’ or ‘technical’ skills. Your VA should make sure their substitutes have those skills. Experienced VAs will also produce a file of ‘how you like things’. You can go through it with them. It will cover things like whether you prefer a formal or informal style, what level of client contact is needed and so on.
Should you be worried?
You should always be careful about who is given access to your company information and who has contact with your clients.
But, if you are working on the basis that only ‘your’ VA can do all the tasks you need, then you really are on the wrong page when it comes to how the VA industry works. It is great that you value and trust your VA.
But your VA is in business too – just like you. If you want your VA to operate in a professional and resilient way then having substitutes to step into the breach – whether for holidays, sickness, or other reasons – is part of that professional package.
Check what professional indemnity or other relevant insurance your VA carries and whether their substitute is covered by it or needs their own policy. Do not assume that one person’s insurance automatically covers another business.
Drop-ins for supervision
Most VAs will organise a drop-in supervision call with their substitutes (yes even when on holiday) to make sure everything is running smoothly. They are a dedicated group of people. You can ask when this is scheduled to be and let your VA know any concerns you may have that can’t wait till their return.
Rest helps deliver customer service
Having a break enables your VA to recharge batteries and deliver even better service when they get back. So if you want to be known as a great client (and who wouldn’t) don’t contact your VA during their holiday time unless it is really is life-threatening or business threateningly urgent. Contact the substitute. They will always be able to pass things back to your VA if it really is that bad.
And while you’re at it, why not plan your own holiday? We all need time away from our desks and phones.
