personal assistants

Personalisation briefing: implications for personal assistants (At a glance 14)

This briefing examines the implications of the personalisation agenda for personal assistants. Personalisation means thinking about care and support services in an entirely different way. This means starting with the person as an individual with strengths, preferences and aspirations and putting them at the centre of the process of identifying their needs and making choices about how and when they are supported to live their lives. It requires a significant transformation of adult social care so that all systems, processes, staff and services are geared up to put people first.

Study of the workforce and employment issues surrounding self-directed support

Report that presents the findings of a study of the workforce and employment issues surrounding Self-Directed Support (SDS) carried out by Reid Howie Associates for the Scottish Government between March and September 2009.

Self-Directed Support (SDS) provides funding for people to arrange support to meet some, or all of their assessed community care needs, instead of receiving services directly provided by a public body. Most people use the money to employ a personal assistant (PA) and/or to buy support from a service provider.