Employing a personal assistantThe benefits of employing a personal assistant are:
Employing a personal assistant, means that you become an employer and have certain legal responsibilities to fullfil. You're first port of call should be your direct payments providers who can support you with the recruitment process.
Skills for Care have a useful and straighforward toolkit on employing a personal assistant which you can access here or you can call them on 0113 241 1275.
There is a website called "Being the Boss" that shares information based on the experiences of disabled people who employ personal assistants which might be useful to you. It can be accessed at www.beingtheboss.co.uk.
Where to advertise for a personal assistant?
You can either go to our local advice organisation who may be able to do the recruitment process for you or advise you how to best proceed.
You can also advertise these yourself using various recruitment websites such as:
Gumtree: http://www.gumtree.com/
Indeed: http://www.indeed.co.uk/
Monster Jobs: http://www.monster.co.uk/
If you are interviewing someone that has responded to your ad online, please make sure you do not put yourself in any danger. Some ways of staying stafe can include meeting the person in a public space such as a cafe or having a relative or friend attend the interview with you.
You might also want to consider CarePair, is a free service helping carers and employers find each other as quickly and easily as possible, suggesting the most appropriate pairings based on things you both have in common. You can visit the website here: http://www.carepair.co.uk/
