Personal Assistants’ Programme Board

  A new national plan has set out what needs to happen in Scotland to improve access to training for people who employ Personal Assistants.   The plan is about the training employers want to give to their PAs as well as the training they might want to access themselves, to support them to be a good employer.   The ...

My Job Scotland is Scotland’s job website for the public and third sector, and one of the most visited recruitment sites in Scotland. And now, it’s also home to a dedicated page for Personal Assistant vacancies. The page has been developed as part of the work of the Personal Assistant Programme Board, which aims to further ...

  The findings of the second Personal Assistant workforce survey have been published, giving an insight into the PA workforce in Scotland, what motivates and challenges them. Almost 800 PAs responded to the survey, which was carried out in April 2023 following a first survey conducted in 2022. This second set of results allows, for the first ...

A key element of the PA Programme Board’s work is the PA Workforce Survey The results of the PA workforce survey inform and influence the work of the Personal Assistants (PA) Programme Board and increase understanding of the PA workforce in Scotland. Self Directed Support Scotland has undertaken two PA workforce surveys and published their findings: The Personal ...

The latest edition of imPAct – the newsletter for Personal Assistants across Scotland, has been published.   You can read the latest edition here: https://createsend.com/t/d-7C4D2BFA4E5284232540EF23F30FEDED   Sign up to receive the newsletter direct to your inbox below: Sign up to imPAct – the newsletter for Personal Assistants in Scotland Name * Email * Subscribe .iIDDUy { background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border-radius: 0.3125rem; max-width: 35.25rem; ...

I am Jon, in my mid 70s and have been a care assistant and PA for over 20 years combined. Currently I’m working as a PA supporting Allen who lives in the Scottish Borders.   Allen is in his mid 50s, has multiple serious health issues and is registered blind. He also has a wicked sense of ...

A new project aimed at improving the wellbeing of Personal Assistants in Scotland is seeking PAs and PA Employers to join expert groups to guide the work. The project also aims to support the mutual relationship between PA Employers and PAs. It is being run by IMPACT (Improving Adult Social Care Together), a UK-wide project that supports ...

The development of a National Training Framework for Personal Assistants and their Employers has taken a step forward, with a survey now complete and its results informing the development of the next phase of the project. The national survey was carried out in September, to find out Employers and Personal Assistants’ views around training. More than ...

An independent review looking at the inspection and regulation of social care in Scotland has published a report into its findings. The Independent Review of Inspection, Scrutiny and Regulation (IRISR) was led by Dame Sue Bruce and has been conducted over the past year. Its aim was to look at current systems of regulation and inspection ...

The latest edition of imPAct – the newsletter for Personal Assistants across Scotland, has been published.   You can read the latest edition here: https://createsend.com/t/d-0CFD6F34EF24D5622540EF23F30FEDED   Sign up to receive the newsletter direct to your inbox below: Sign up to imPAct – the newsletter for Personal Assistants in Scotland Name * Email * Subscribe .iIDDUy { background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border-radius: 0.3125rem; max-width: 35.25rem; ...

My name’s Louise and I’m a 19-year-old medical student. I’ve worked as a PA supporting Ben over the summer holidays for the last two years. It all started when saw an advert put up by Ben’s mum on social media a few months before I finished school. It looked like a good alternative to working in ...

A pilot is to take place in Scotland to try out a new discount card for Personal Assistants. The Blue Sky Social Care Card was launched recently in England and is available to all social care workers across the UK. It is gaining in popularity, with 10,000 users so far, and offers discounts at a range ...

SDSS is inviting people who employ Personal Assistants, and PAs themselves, to give their views on what training they feel would be beneficial to PAs. A short online survey has been created to ask about, among other things: what types of training would be most useful (eg. online, in person) what training topics would be most helpful how best ...

The latest edition of imPAct – the newsletter for Personal Assistants across Scotland, has been published.   The newsletter has the latest updates from the PA Programme Board plus other news relevant to PAs.   You can read the latest edition here: https://createsend.com/t/d-8DA5E1C731FE34BA2540EF23F30FEDED   Sign up to receive the newsletter direct to your inbox below: Sign up to imPAct – the newsletter ...

A series of events are being planned across Scotland this summer to give members of the public the chance to have their say about how the National Care Service should work. A programme of meetings will take place over the summer, from Dumfries & Galloway to Shetland. There will also be online meetings for anyone who ...

  Self Directed Support Scotland has welcomed two new members of staff who will take on the development of a Personal Assistant Training Framework.  Emmanuelle Le Coz (left) and Johanne McBean (right) will work alongside PAs, Employers, and organisations who support them to developer a co-produced National PA Training resource that can be accessed by all PAs ...

Calling all Personal Assistants! We need your help to understand more about the Personal Assistant workforce in Scotland. The Scottish Personal Assistant Workforce Survey was carried out for the first time last year, and is being repeated in 2023 to see what has changed. If you completed the survey last year, it’s really important you do it again ...

A new project is set to launch which will work to improve the health and wellbeing of Personal Assistants in Scotland. The University of Birmingham’s IMPACT (IMProving Adult Care Together) centre hosts several projects – known as Demonstrators – each year, aimed at improving adult social care across the UK. This year, one of these projects will ...

  A funded PhD studentship opportunity has been created, that will explore the role of Personal Assistants in the social care landscape in Scotland. The collaborative PhD, funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) and hosted by the University of Glasgow, will give a researcher the chance to examine the impact of PA roles in ...

A new newsletter aimed at Personal Assistants in Scotland has been launched. The imPAct newsletter, produced by Self Directed Support Scotland, aims to keep PAs informed of the work of the PA Programme Board, as well as other news and opportunities relevant to PAs. Personal Assistants who have signed up will receive the email newsletter straight to ...

The Scottish Government has announced that the minimum rate of pay for Personal Assistants will increase to £10.90 an hour from April 2023. The increase is part of funding agreed as part of the Scottish Budget for 2023/24 and means that the minimum hourly rate for workers providing direct adult social care, including Personal Assistants, will ...

Download this PA Programme Newsletter – September 2022 Editor’s welcome Donald Macleod, Chief Executive, SDSS This is the third newsletter specifically for Personal Assistants to let you know about the exciting work and progress that has been made by the PA Programme Board with the essential contribution from you, the PA workforce.   This edition brings you up to date ...

  PA Programme Board Workplan Interactive listing 

Thank you to everyone who responded to the first annual Personal Assistant (PA) survey. The online survey, responded to by 912 people across every Scottish local authority area which was an amazing outcome in itself, was created to help inform workforce recruitment campaigns and PA development approaches needed to support PAs in Scotland. This first ...

Personal Assistants are employed by people who need support, so that they can live their life, their way.   Working as a PA is about building a strong relationship, and supporting someone to reach their goals, whatever they may be. There’s plenty in it for you too – it’s flexible and varied, with lots of opportunity for growth ...

Yesterday’s meeting of the Scottish Government Personal Assistant Programme Board, provided further insight into the progression of the National Care Service Bill,  due to introduced to Parliament later this month.  It’s the first step in legislating a change of model and highlighted were its stages and timeline and the opportunities that people will have to ...

Download this PA Programme Newsletter – June 2022 Editor’s welcome Donald Macleod, Chief Executive, SDSS This is the second of a series of newsletters to let you know about the exciting work that is going on in relation to your roles as Personal Assistants. This work is being led by a Scottish Government board, the PA Programme Board, ...

Following meetings to update on the first Annual PA Workforce Survey and fairly imminent production of a preliminary report and analysis, below is an outline of existing thoughts on themes and a link to the SDS Forum for discussion on these and any ideas you have about the analysis and purpose of this data plus ...

Download The Personal Assistant Newsletter March 2022 Editor’s welcome Donald Macleod, Chief Executive, SDSS This is the first of a series of newsletters to let you know about some exciting work that is going on in relation to your roles as Personal Assistants. This work is being led by a Scottish Government board, the PA Programme Board, and is ...

A letter from the Minister for Mental Wellbeing and Social Care Kevin Stewart MSP outlining PA Programme Board actions went out today to the 5,000 strong cohort of Personal Assistants who received a thank you payment for services during pandemic lockdown.   The Letter The letter which you can read here introduces the work of the PA Programme ...

Looking for PAs to share their story and make a Video Case Study SDS Scotland are developing a Personal Assistant Handbook for all PAs across Scotland. This will be a sister publication of the online PA Employer Handbook that you can find here: The PA Employer Handbook As part of this development SDS Scotland have set up a ...

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 ...

Earlier this year, we asked our members and their networks to share their experiences as self-employed Personal Assistants (PAs) or those who contract them or work alongside them. The survey was completed by 39 respondents including PA employers, self-employed PAs, self-employed contractors, other support workers and other key stakeholders (independent support and local authority staff for ...

Self Directed Support Scotland (SDSS) are proud to have been a part of the Scottish Government’s ‘thank you’ payment process for Personal Assistants (PAs), which delivered nearly 5,000 payments of up to £500 to PAs. Following months of planning with stakeholders, including Scottish Government, SDSS and payroll providers, on 30 June 2021, an online and postal ...