Payroll for care services and home help
Shift work, night and holiday supplements, the care minimum wage, mini-jobs and constant joiners and leavers. Hardly any industry has payroll as demanding as care. cleverlohn takes it over completely, with a fixed contact, organised cover and a test payroll before every approval.
Why payroll in care is so challenging
Payroll in care and support services is one of the most error-prone areas of HR. That's due to a rare combination of rules that come together month after month:
Supplements for nights, Sundays and public holidays
These SFN supplements are only free of tax and social security within the legal limits of § 3b EStG. Getting the base pay wrong means paying too much in contributions or risking a back claim.
Standby and on-call duty
They are paid by their own rules, often proportionally, but at least at the applicable industry minimum wage. Separating this cleanly from regular shifts is manual work.
Care minimum wage by qualification
Care assistants, qualified assistants and skilled staff have different minimum wages, which usually rise on 1 July. Every classification has to be right.
Shift and rotating shift models
Hours vary every month. Floaters and short-notice shifts come on top. Fixed numbers are rare.
High staff turnover
Many joiners and leavers mean constant registrations and deregistrations, absences and ongoing work on employee data.
Mixed employment and audit pressure
Full-time, part-time, mini-jobs and care assistants side by side, often across several locations, plus more frequent audits by the tax and social security authorities and the Medical Service.
Sounds like a lot of work? It is. That's exactly why more and more care and support services hand over their payroll.
The key components of care payroll
| Base pay by qualification and collective agreement | The basis of every payslip. The right hourly rate depends on the qualification level, the care minimum wage and any applicable collective agreement. If the classification is wrong, the error runs through all supplements. |
|---|---|
| SFN supplements | Under § 3b EStG, supplements for Sunday, public holiday and night work are tax-free up to a base pay of €50 per hour and free of social security contributions up to a base pay of €25 per hour. The tax-free share depends on when the work was done. |
| Standby duty and on-call duty | Standby time is usually paid proportionally, depending on the agreement for example at 60, 75 or 90 percent of the hourly wage, but at least at the industry minimum wage. On-call duty follows its own rules. |
| Shift, rotating shift and care allowances | Depending on the model and agreement, various allowances are added to base pay. They must be assigned and documented correctly. |
| Mini-jobs, part-time and care assistants | Marginal employees, part-time staff and household or care assistants each follow their own payroll rules. Keeping an eye on the mini-job limit and how it changes is a must. |
| Absences and continued pay | Illness, holidays and public holidays must be paid correctly, including the proportional supplements. This is exactly where many typical errors happen. |
How to run care payroll correctly:
step by step
- ✓Step 1: record employee data and qualification
Store the right qualification level, the contract and the applicable minimum or collective wage for every employee.
- ✓Step 2: take over the rota and working hours
Take over actual hours from the rota cleanly, including night, Sunday and holiday hours as well as standby.
- ✓Step 3: calculate supplements, standby and allowances
Apply SFN supplements within the legal limits, pay standby proportionally and assign allowances.
- ✓Step 4: check mini-jobs, part-time and care assistants
Check marginal employment limits, type of employment and reporting obligations.
- ✓Step 5: create and check the test payroll
Review everything before approval, so no supplements or notifications are missing.
- ✓Step 6: approval, payout and notifications
After approval, trigger the payout, the wage tax return and the social security notifications.
At cleverlohn we take over steps 2 to 6 for you. No manual transfers, no Excel lists, no data chaos.
One price for everything.
Our all-inclusive price: as simple as cleverlohn
Always plan with certainty. No base fee, no extra costs.
cleverlohn
From €13 per payslip (plus VAT). All inclusive
Other providers
...€ Complex cost structures
Personal payroll accountant
✓ included
included
All HR software features
✓ included
included
Employee access
✓ included
included
Base price
✓ included
€18
Employee registrations and deregistrations
✓ included
€18
Certificates, such as employment certificates
✓ included
€15
Annual reports
✓ included
€20
Communication fee
✓ included
€15
Keep costs in view with cleverlohn.
Outsource payroll in 3 simple steps
We make getting started easy: you hand over your data once. After that, everything runs automatically. No disruptions from holidays or sick leave, because we're always there for you.
Hand over your data
We collect all your employees' data from your previous payroll provider, or you invite your employees to enter it. All done in minutes.
Use the platform
Enter hours, absences and supplements. Everything is checked automatically.
Receive your payroll
We create, check and deliver it, ready for payout by email, portal or post.
Frequently asked questions about payroll in care and home help
Can I outsource payroll without a tax advisor?
Yes, with cleverlohn that's no problem. We are an independent payroll service and take over your complete payroll, including all notifications to the tax office, health insurers and employers' liability insurance associations. You don't have to involve your tax advisor. You keep full control over your accounting data and can pass it on to your advisor at any time if you like. Many of our clients use cleverlohn for exactly this reason: to move expensive and time-consuming payroll out of the tax firm.
What are the risks of outsourcing payroll?
With traditional payroll offices or tax firms, the risks come mainly from a lack of digitalisation: delayed data transfer, missing transparency and high correction rates. At cleverlohn we eliminate these risks with a fully automated HR platform with real-time validation and our test payroll. Every payroll is simulated and checked before final submission. So errors are caught before they happen. We also take full liability: if an error does occur, our professional liability insurance covers all damages. You only pay for correct payslips.
How secure is my data with cleverlohn?
Your data is as safe with us as in a bank. We host exclusively on ISO 27001-certified servers in Germany, use end-to-end encryption and meet all GDPR requirements. Every access is logged. Personnel data is only visible to authorised people. You have full access to your documents in the central portal at any time. During an audit you can provide all records within minutes.
What happens during an audit by the tax office or health insurer?
With cleverlohn you're well prepared. All relevant documents, from monthly payslips to social security notifications to certificates, are archived digitally and can be exported with one click. During an audit we can give the auditor direct read-only access on request. Our payroll accountants actively support you: we prepare the audit, answer questions and handle communication with the authorities. In the last 12 months, 100% of our clients passed audits without back claims.
What is included in the price per employee?
Notifications & certificates
Communication with your cleverlohn payroll accountant
Creating the test payroll
Creating payslips
Use of our software
And much more! Just ask!
Can employees view their payslips online?
Employees get their own access to our cloud-based web app and can view their payslips anytime, from anywhere.
Why should I choose cleverlohn?
cleverlohn means trained and experienced specialists, clear processes beyond the web app and a whole team committed to running your payroll.
