The General Social Care Council (GSCC) today confirmed that it will be consulting on a system of regulation for personal assistants at the launch of a new study looking at the impact of direct payments on the people who receive them and the personal assistants they employ.
The Skills for Care research published today, which was co-sponsored by the GSCC, is one of the first reports to examine the government’s policy of putting people who use services and their carers in charge of the money that goes towards their care.
When asked about possible regulation of the personal assistant workforce, the majority of direct payment employers felt that an official list of registered workers to assist them in recruitment would be useful and nine out of ten personal assistants thought that registration was a good idea. However, there were mixed views amongst direct payment employers about whether such a system should be enforced. In contrast, the majority of personal assistants thought that registration should be introduced on a compulsory basis.
The GSCC will embark on a wide-ranging consultation to assess whether there is support for the regulation of personal assistants and has set out the key principles that will shape their approach:
• Any register must add value to the experience of people employing their own personal assistants.
• It must enable people to make informed choices when employing a personal assistant that is not a friend or a family member.
• The form of regulation must fit with the new freedoms and flexibilities granted to people who use services under the personalisation agenda.
The research involved over 500 face-to-face interviews with direct payment employers and sought the views of almost 500 personal assistants. It looked at a range of issues posed by direct payments, such as how people who use services and carers are coping with the role of employer; recruitment; and the skills set of personal assistants and training opportunities open to them.
Mike Wardle, the GSCC’s chief executive said:
“We are interested to see that the majority of employers support the idea of an official list of registered workers to assist them in finding suitable personal assistants and that the workers also support of the idea of registration.
“However, it is vital that any regulatory system preserves the principles of choice and control that lie behind personalised services whilst adding value and enabling people to make an informed choice when employing a personal assistant. That is why we plan to talk again to people who use services, carers, workers and the general public as part of a full consultation to establish whether regulation could and should be in place. This research will shape our approach.”
Andrea Rowe, CEO of Skills for Care said:
“This study adds greatly to our knowledge about the attitudes of direct payment employers and personal assistants toward training and registration. Skills for Care will continue to work closely with the GSCC, direct payment employers, their PAs and other major stakeholders as the numbers of direct payment employers and PAs continues to grow.”