Local Authorities, NHS & Support Organisations
Aimed at people who work in organisations that support individual employers and PAs, for example, user led organisations (ULOs), disabled people's organisations (DPOs), direct payment and PHB support services, and other third sector or charity organisations.
See our useful information and practical tools around recruiting PAs, training and funding, updates on legislation and best practice, and the latest research.
New resource documents
Here are some of our recommended resources that you can share with individual employers, PAs and colleagues.
Employing personal assistants toolkit
This online toolkit is for individual employers and provides step by step guidance about how to employ a PA.
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Other resources to help you
A guide to being a personal assistant
This guide is for people who are already or interested in becoming a PA. It explains more about the role and some things to think about when working as a PA.
Personalised care and support planning
This tool supports integrated care planning for people with health and social care needs.
Personal assistants continuing to support people during a hospital admission
This guide outlines the benefits and shares learning and top tips about what works well, to help individual employers, local authorities and CCGs to work together to put the right processes in place to make it happen.
Supporting and developing the workforce for Individual Service Funds
An Individual Service Fund (ISF) is one way of managing a personal budget, where someone who needs care and support chooses an organisation to manage the budget on their behalf. If you’re considering being involved in ISF’s download our guide to find out more information.
There are lots of training and funding opportunities for support organisations, individual employers and PAs.
Funding for training and qualifications
Individual employers can apply for funding to pay for training for themselves and their PAs.
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Other resources to help you
Adult social care qualifications
There are lots of qualifications PAs can do to develop their skills and knowledge.
Finding high quality learning providers
Our endorsed providers have been assessed and checked as delivering high quality training that's fit for purpose.
User led organisation funding
User led organisations can apply for funding to deliver training to individual employers and PAs.
You might support individual employers with matters around employment status, pensions and other matters such as wages and insurance. Here's some useful resources to help.
Understanding the employment status of personal assistants
This guide explains why it's important to understand the employment status of PAs and how the wide spectrum of the PA role may influence employment status.
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Other resources to help you
Automatic enrolment
These resources can help you understand more about individual employers' responsibilities around automatic enrolment.
Employment status factsheet
This factsheet from the Low Incomes Tax Reform Group explains more about employment status, and will help individual employers to decide if their PA is employed or self-employed.
Our advice notes and briefings provide more information around topical issues in the sector.
Disclosure and Barring Service advice note
This advice note explains more about DBS checks.
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Other resources to help you
PAs doing the Care Certificate FAQs
This advice note explains a bit more about the Care Certificate and how it relates to PAs.
PA working and CQC registration
This advice note explains a bit more about where and when a PA might need to register with CQC.
Q and A on insurance for individual employers
This advice note has more information about what insurance individual employers need.
We carry out research to understand more about the support available for individual employers and the PA workforce. Here are our most recent research reports.
Taking an integrated approach to PA employment and support March 2017
This guide is for local authorities, support and NHS organisations about how they can work together to ensure their approaches to PA employment align locally.
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Other resources to help you
Workforce intelligence briefing – Individual employers and personal assistants March 2020
Read information about direct payment recipients and their personal assistants in England. This 2020 report includes key figures about the size and profile of the personal assistant workforce, turnover rates, pay rates and other workforce information.
Personal assistance relationships: power, ethics and emotions June 2017
This research from the University of East Anglia aims to understand the relationships of power, ethics and emotions which underlie the PA model.
The personal assistant workforce in social care and health Dec 2016
This report outlines findings from a recent study which set out to establish a picture of PAs working across social care and health in England.
Research into local authorities' support for people that employ personal assistants March 2016
This report outlines the most recent findings from an ongoing study which sets out to understand the support available to people employing PAs in England.
Support for individual employers and their PAs following the introduction of personal health budgets March 2016
This report outlines findings from a recent study which set out to establish the support available to personal health budget holders employing PAs in England.
We have lots of case studies with individuals talking about their experience of employing PAs, and PAs talking about their role.
Hear from individuals who employ their own personal assistants
Individual employers talk about why they decided to employ PAs and their experiences of doing so.
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Other resources to help you
Hear from people who are working as personal assistants
PAs talk about why they decided to become a PA and why they love their role.
Developing a PA noticeboard - Portsmouth City Council
Niamh Dalziel from Portsmouth City Council talks about how they set up a personal assistant noticeboard in Portsmouth. It enables individuals who use a direct payment, personal health budget or self funders to find their own care and support staff.
Taking an inclusive approach to supporting individual employers - Warwickshire County Council
Warwickshire County Council talk about how their Independent Living Team support individuals who employ their own PAs (carers) using a direct payment, personal health budget or self funded. Their support includes elearning for staff, signposting to other support and working with social workers to inform them about the option of being an individual employer.
Library of lived experiences - CAIL
Cambridge Alliance for Independent Living (CAIL) has developed these case studies of people with lived experience who receive a direct payment. They give you first hand experience about what's worked well and how you can better support direct payment recipients.
Here are some other resources that we think would be useful to help you better support individual employers and their PAs.
Making it Real
Making it Real sets out what people who use services and carers expect to see if support services are truly personalised.
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Other resources to help you
Developing local networks
It's important to develop local networks to ensure an integrated service and share good practice. Here's some resources to help.
How to do a great assessment for someone who has autism
This guide will help you carry out a great assessment for someone who has autism.
Indirect payments: practitioners' guide
This guide helps practitioners work through the process of considering indirect payments as a way of ensuring people who lack capacity to make certain decisions, are able to take advantage of the care and support available.
Personal health budgets and the delegation of health tasks
These guides explain a bit more about personal health budgets and the delegation of health talks where the holder employs a PA.
The Personal Budgets Minimum Process Framework
This interactive tool by Think Local Act Personal will help improvement officers in councils and their partner organisations deliver Care Act compliant social care systems which relate to personal budgets.
Guide to personal health budgets 2018
This guide from Shared Lives Plus will help voluntary, community and social enterprise organisations work with health professionals to support more people to use a personal health budget.
Information for social workers
Information for social workers
Individual service fund workforce guide
An Individual Service Fund (ISF) is one way of managing a personal budget, where someone who needs care and support chooses an organisation to manage the budget on their behalf. If you’re considering being involved in ISF’s download our guide to find out more information.
Here are the findings from the four projects that tested innovative approaches to the recruitment of PAs.
My Life - Pathways to Employment
My Life's Pathways to Employment model invites potential PAs to five sessions to learn more about the role, the values you need and to meet potential employers.
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Other resources to help you
How to run a sector-based work academy for personal assistants (PAs)
This guide sets out a step by step process that you can follow to set up and run an academy. It includes tips and templates from four pilot projects that Skills for Care funded in 2018/19.
Disability Sheffield - Testing innovative approaches to the recruitment of personal assistants
Disability Sheffield worked with Sheffield Hallam University to promote the PA role to students on relevant courses.
SHIP Transforming Care Partnership - Promoting the personal assistant role to local students
The partnership worked with University of Portsmouth and University of Southampton to promote the PA role to students on relevant courses.
Nottinghamshire County Council - Promoting the role of PAs to rural and hard to reach communities
Nottinghamshire CC did targeted promotional activities in rural communities and with hard to reach groups, to increase the number of PAs on their directory.