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Personal assistants - your responsibility as an employer

If you (or the person you care for) are using direct payments to employ someone as a personal assistant, you are officially an employer. This means you have the same responsibilities as any employer towards their staff.

The Skills for Care website has a full guide to how you would go about employing and managing a personal assistant, including templates for giving interviews, drawing up contracts and managing holidays, sick leave or any staff problems.

Read our factsheets about direct payments and employing PAs.

Training for you and your personal assistant

Skills for Care also have lots of information about how both you and your personal assistant can access training and development, helping you to become a better employer and helping your employee to learn and develop skills. Skills for Care offer funding to cover the costs of some training, and we can also offer you:

  • a list of local free training providers
  • free online training courses
  • training DVDs to borrow.

For more help with being an employer using direct payments, you can speak to your case manager, call 03000 41 36 00 or email direct.payments@kent.gov.uk.