Getting Started with a Directly Contracted Administrator:
Many case managers find that employing a Directly Contracted Administrator (DCA) helps them to get a better work life balance, and potentially earn more, by working efficiently within their own business.
Typically, they will log emails as filenotes in Qunote for you, help with tasks such as tailoring templates, third party due diligence checks, or researching equipment/products or services. They would not typically have direct contact with your client or their support workers.
You will want to have a contract in place and negotiate the hourly rate between you. See below for further information.
Contract:
Here is a contract template to adapt for your requirements for the work you want your DCA to undertake: 3HUB Contractor Service Contract v1.0 (uploaded 13/06/2024).
Set-Up Fees:
The fees to do the tech set-up and induction, and the ongoing Qunote and Google Workspace license fees, are listed on the members area page here.
Recouping Your Costs:
Most DCAs are logging emails for the CMs, simply following the CMs charging policy about the amount of time to charge. The charge for that would be at the CM rate as the DCA is just logging the work done by the CM. Depending on what other tasks the DCA is doing (that are not done by the CM), the hubber will want to decide how to recoup the cost according to what the task is.
Most hubbers absorb the cost of their DCA within their business rather than charging specifically to the client - perhaps, for example, recouping the cost via a regular filenote at the CM rate for general administration work as maybe, say, 2 hours a month. The charge "CM Admin" is intended for admin work done by the CM, and the "Admin (Client Work)" charge, is intended for work done by an administrator which is directly for the client (such as being engaged to support the client in a charity fundraising event they wish to put on). You may choose to use the "CM Admin" or "Admin (Client Work)" to charge your clients specifically for the work your DCA has done for you. The rates for these are listed on the fees page here.
Any option is fine, noting that DCAs usually work on all the case manager's caseload – it is up to the CM to decide whether the DCA puts such charges to recoup their costs onto a filenote or the CM does. If you wish to discuss this further, please speak with your keyworker.
DBS Checks:
Usually a DCA will need a Basic DBS, as they are not interacting directly with clients - you decide what DBS level of check is appropriate, depending on the work you want them to do for you. 3HUB will recoup the cost of this through your 3HUB remittance at the end of the month. Whether the CM or the DCA pays for this will need to be discussed and decided between you when making the application. They can apply by following your company's DBS instructions (a template is available on the members area - please note that the update service isn't relevant for a basic DBS check). https://members.
ICO:
An DCA for a CM would also typically need to register with the ICO - they can do that via this link: https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/data-protection-fee.
Using Your Own Device (UYOD):
Please use the third party "Using Your Own Device" template to confirm with the DCA that they are working appropriately to your Data Protection Policy. The template can be found here.
Emails and Delegated Access:
Please tell us, via the form below, what you would like the DCA's email address to be, typically this would be "admin@yourcasemanagementcompany.co.uk". We will set up their email signature to reflect both your company's and 3HUB's logos, so it looks nice and professional.
Please tell us, via the form below, what you would like the DCA's bcc Qunote email address to be. Once set up, this Qunote bcc email can't be changed. The bit of the email address that we can modify is the bit before the ".threehub@qunote3.net". For example it could be: "adminyourcompanyname.threehub@
We can also set up delegated access for your DCA to access your emails directly, most Hubbers do this. You can ask for this via the form.
The set-up process will work more smoothly if you can both join a virtual meeting with the Operations Team when we do the tech set-up for your DCA's account. Here's a short video about delegated access in Gmail (24 seconds into the video is probably the best starting point since DCAs won't usually send emails on the CM's behalf): https://www.youtube.
Members Area:
If you would like your DCA to tailor templates for your business, they will need their own 3HUB Members Area login. Again, please indicate this on the form below and we'll set this up for you too. We will ask them to complete a Using Your Own Device document in relation to 3HUB Ltd to recognise the importance of protecting the intellectual property of the community.
Request to use a Directly Contracted Administrator Form:
Please use the form below to tell us you would like to set-up a DCA.
The Operations Team will make contact with you to arrange the set-up meeting once the tech is in place.
