Gifts & Payments

We understand that people want to give gift to show appreciation, but it can also put Helpers and members in precarious positions. We think it is best to be clear about gift giving and receiving in order to protect the both Helper and member.

• You might want to give a member a gift, or

• A member or their family may want to give you a gift

Rule of thumb

• Small gifts or tokens are OK, e.g.

  • Small token gifts or cards

  • Home-grown produce or home-made food

  • Once-off gifts that have value under $50

• Not recommended:

  • Commissions

  • Tips

  • Valuable possessions of a member (e.g. "this necklace was my grandmother's...")

  • Any gifts of value over $50, or regular gifts that cumulatively add up to over $50 (e.g. gifting you 3 books valued at $20 each over the course of 6 weeks).

What to do when offered a gift

• Let your member and/or their family know the Lively approach to gifts.

• Report anything over the value of $50, or being written into a will - use the Incidents process.

• If the member or family insist on giving you the gift, you can notify the Support Coordinator or Care Manager for that member and redirect to them for safekeeping.

• When a gift is offered to compensate in some way for work (e.g. to cover fuel for transporting the member or for extra time worked), you can let the member or their family member know that Lively pays you for time worked and km's travelled with the member as part of the session.

If in doubt, contact the Support Coordinator or Care Manager for the member to discuss. You can always say that you are checking first with the coordinator and will come back to them.

Covering costs for members

Ideally Helpers are not, under any circumstances, paying for members. This rule is in place so that patterns do not occur where Helpers are expected to make purchases for members and are put into uncomfortable positions or placed under financial hardship. 

In the event your member asks you to cover the cost of an item it is Lively's policy that a Helper declines the request and offers to contact either the case manager for additional funding or supports the member to find an alternative route within their budget.

If a Helper, for whatever reason, has made a purchase on behalf of a member, it is expected that they log an expense claim form and incident. This will be forwarded onto the case manager as it is a cost that belongs to the member not Lively. Helpers may be out of pocket until the case manager approves a payment for the Helper.