User led organisations (ULOs) can apply for a grant to deliver and/or commission training for people who employ their own care and support (individual employers), and their personal assistants (PAs).
To increase the number of individual employers and PAs who are able to access training, grant opportunities are offered to ULOs that:
identify the development requirements and training needs of individual employers and PAs, and deliver, or organise, purchase and support training for individual employers and PAs that meets these needs.
Fund holding organisations must be a user led organisation (i.e. an organisation that’s run and controlled by people who use support services including disabled people, people with a learning disability, autistic people, older people, and their families and carers) and have a database of contact details for individual employers and PAs. Skills for Care will not fund any organisation that goes through a third party to contact individual employers and PAs.
This funding is not available for learning providers, local authorities or organisations that do not have direct contact with individual employers and PAs.
What will be funded?
Skills for Care will consider applications to fund, via a grant, the cost of learning that meets the needs of individual employers and PAs, including topics such as:
- moving and assisting
- first aid
- food safety
- disability equality training
- understanding the role of an employer or employer responsibilities
- managing staff
- boundaries and expectations of the employer and employee relationship
- training to support specific conditions (e.g. autism, dementia etc.)
- knowledge elements of the Care Certificate standards and where appropriate assessment that leads to the award of the Care Certificate.
- prospective PAs (pre-employment training) – this should be part of a structured programme which includes subjects such as awareness of the PA role, PA/IE working relationship and boundaries, disability and equality awareness, working in a person centred way, rights and entitlements, finding PA roles and preparing for recruitment, plus any other training.
- people who are thinking about becoming an individual employer (pre-employer training) who have already been pre-approved for a personal budget by their local commissioner – this should be part of a structured ‘being a good employer’ programme which includes subjects such as awareness of their legal and other responsibilities of being an employer (e.g. employment law, contracts of employment, pay, tax, pensions etc.), using values based recruitment, PA/IE working relationship and boundaries, undertaking induction and supervision, developing their PA etc.
Applications can include the direct costs of training, travel and the cost of hiring replacement support whilst the employer’s usual PA is attending training during their normal working hours
For more information and to apply click here
Deadline: 12 March 2020, 16.00