Personal Assistant pay uplift
On 5 October 2021, the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care announced a package of measures to support winter and system pressures in health and social care. This included a commitment to provide up to £48 million of Scottish Government funding to support a pay uplift for Adult Social Care workers.
This funding is being provided to uplift pay for workers delivering direct care and support within Adult Social Care commissioned services. This funding will enable pay for these workers to be uplifted from at least £9.50 per hour to at least £10.02 per hour.
This uplift should be delivered to Personal Assistants (PAs) providing support for adults. The Personal Assistant workforce is paid by individuals with assessed needs, for whom they provide vital support to enable them to live independently. A PA is eligible for this uplift if they are directly paid by the social care support recipient or the person who is acting for a social care support recipient, who receives funds to pay PAs from Independent Living Fund Scotland or from a Local Authority or Health and Social Care Partnership through Option 1 Social Care (Self Directed Support) Act 2013.
This funding took effect from 1 December 2021. Local Government and Integration Joint Boards (IJBs) have been working at pace to deliver this and best endeavours have been made to get this funding to PA employers. Where this has not been possible, funding will be back dated and provided for all hours worked from 1 December 2021. All payments will be made before or during February 2022.