Employment practice leading to decrease in Personal Assistant (PA) workforce

Current employment practices for personal assistants have been identified as a barrier to recruitment. In addition, poor levels of pay and terms and conditions are likely to have a negative impact on the personal assistant workforce.

There is some evidence that current employment practices for personal assistants are acting as a barrier to recruitment. In some cases, employers of personal assistants have treated them as self-employed and neglected to pay NICs or deduct income tax from their salaries, resulting in a loss of benefits. Low levels of pay and poor terms and conditions have also been highlighted as potential ideas, with one third of personal assistant believing that they are underpaid.

Sources or references

• Department of Health (2011) Working for personalised care: A framework for supporting personal assistants working in adult social care.
• Department of Health (2012) Caring for our future: reforming care and support, White Paper.
• IFF research (2008) Employment Aspects and Workforce Implications of Direct Payments.

Some of the information in this section is provided by stakeholders and expert groups, and does not necessarily represent the views of the CfWI.