Personal Assistant Services

Service Update (as of February 2023)

SoLO is not alone in being impacted by the shortage of available staff for the Social Care sector and as you are aware we have struggled to source staff for recent referrals.

We have provided a successful Personal Assistance service for a number of years and we know how much Personal Assistants contribute to the lives of those with disabilities and their families.  

SoLO have continued to try and facilitate the PA service by taking all steps we can to meet the need, however, with the increases of referrals and enquiries combined with the decrease of labour market within Health and Social Care we, along with other providers, are struggling to keep up with demand. 

As a consequence, SoLO are currently and regrettably unable to accept any new referrals for PA support at this time.  It is SoLO’s aim to work closely with the Local Authority to help address the national crisis and to support much needed change within Health and Social care recruitment and service provision in order to resume service as soon as possible and updates will be provided here.

If you have any questions about this please contact info@sololifeopportunities.org

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What is the PA Service?

We help parents and carers to find the right personal assistant

SoLO can employ a professional whom we assess and manage, to assist you with support and personal care and to access social, community and leisure activities.

Do you receive a personal budget or are you self funded? Instead of giving you a care service, your local social services may offer you a direct payment for you to arrange and pay for your own support.  You may be entitled to a direct payment if you are assessed by social services as having support needs, or you are currently receiving a community care service.

We  enable those who have access to a personal budget and who do not wish to employ someone direct, to be assisted for by a professional PA from our skilled and trained workforce.

For whom and where?

Our PAs provide support, including personal care where necessary, for children and adults with a learning disability, both within the home and outside in the community.

How?

By providing a range of well trained, supervised and experienced PAs who can provide appropriate support that is matched to the needs of the individual, taking into account the nature of their disability, age, gender, race and other cultural needs

Why?

Our service gives confidence to the individual and to the parent/carer of the service user, ensuring peace of mind with the knowledge that they, their child or adult are well cared for.

How is SoLO different from an agency?

Everyone at SoLO works with and, in many cases, alongside people with learning disabilities. Many of those form whom we provide a PA, also use our other services. This means that our understanding of the individual needs and the demands put upon families, parents and carers, is not theoretical or abstract – it is part of our daily life for all of us. This helps us to choose the right person for you and to help them, and you, manage the relationship as it progresses. It also means that, when your PA needs a holiday, we secure the very best stand-in, available.

To select the right person, we work with parents and carers to fully involve them in the selection of the PA. This means that, amongst other things, we:

• advertise the position (even if we have potentially suitable candidates on our books already)
• interview shortlisted candidates
• carry out all DBS and reference checks
• arrange an introductory visit with the shortlisted candidates and the service user
• recruit and induct the successful candidate
• provide a contract of employment for the PA with a set probation period
• provide all supervision, training and payroll administration
• provide a relief worker should the specific worker be off sick or take annual leave
• offer dispute resolution (if required)