Picking your pathway (NToW84)

There are a growing number of personal assistants (PAs) in the social care workforce and their new employers (who are recipients of direct payments) don't always know what training they need and where to find it. PAs are often difficult to reach and have very few support or information networks. Many of them have not worked in social care before and are unaware of the training needed or available to them.

This project was created with the aim of pulling together the views on what training was needed for PAs and what was currently available.

The project was jointly undertaken by the Association for Real Change (ARC) and Independent Living Alternatives (ILA).

Aims/Objectives
The aim of the project was to develop a matrix to help disabled employers identify training needs and opportunities for their PAs. This aim was achieved by:

• Consulting with the disabled employers of PAs across England
• Mapping the findings onto a matrix and making this available to the employers and the PAs
• Preparing a report for Skills for Care on the gaps in the training matrix, and making recommendations about how possible awards could be developed for PAs
• Reporting to Skills for Care on how funding could be made available to disabled employers

What happened?
A questionnaire was developed and several consultation events were held around the country to seek the views of disabled employers and PAs to find out what training they thought was needed for PAs to do a good job. The questionnaire also asked what training they currently used and what value they attached to this.

Six consultation events took place, with a total of 90 delegates. 71 disabled employers and 56 PAs also completed electronic questionnaires.

Outcomes
A recurring theme within the feedback from the consultation was that everybody is different and has different training needs. Valuable insights into how disabled employers and PAs view the current training services available were also gained.

Following the consultation, reports from the events were prepared and the information collated and verified. The training matrix was then created identifying what training should be undertaken.

Three online forums were set up, one for disabled employers, one for PAs and one for interested professionals. It was hoped that the forum members would use this resource to gain peer support.

Impact on workforce development and how you can use the learning
PAs are a disparate group who often work in isolation to provide the specific support needs to people who are also their employers. There has been a tendency for disabled employers and PAs to identify training needs in terms of instruction, which deals with the specific individual's needs rather than training and transferable skills. The matrix provides information to identify suitable individual training.

A report was sent to Skills for Care, with recommendations that any future possible qualifications for PAs should be focused on knowledge and theory behind the work undertaken in the role, and less about how the tasks are carried out (i.e. less about competence that needs observation assessment and more about the theory behind how to do things correctly and safely).

Additional materials

NToW84 - Picking your Pathway evaluation

NToW84 - Picking you Pathway briefing

NToW84 - Picking you Pathway activity plan

NToW84 - Picking your Pathway consultation event programme

NToW84 - Picking your Pathway consultation events presentation

NToW84 - Picking your Pathway consultation event report Newcastle

NToW84 - Picking your Pathway consultation event report Northwich

NToW84 - questionnaire for personal assistance users

NToW84 - questionnaire for personal assistants

NToW84 - What do personal assistants need to know?

NToW84 - Picking your Pathway recommended trainers and training form

Back to personalisation