Support for Individual Employers and Personal Assistants

The Direct Payment Support Service is provided by Sheffield City Council, and provides free information, advice and support about Direct Payments.

The service can support you:

• With information about how Direct Payments work and answer any questions you might have
• To understand your role and responsibilities in taking a Direct Payment
• To organise and make your own arrangements for your care & support
• To find and recruit suitable Personal Assistants (PAs)
• To carry out your role as an employer of PA
• With any problems or issues you might experience
• To make arrangements with providers/agencies and other third parties
• To meet and speak to other people who have Direct Payments

How can I contact the Direct Payment Support Service?

The Direct Payment Support Service is open Monday-Friday, 9am-5pm.

You can contact the service by phone, email or post using the information below:

Telephone: 0114 205 6825

Email: directpaymentsupportservice@sheffield.gov.uk

Postal address:

Direct Payment Support Service
Commissioning & Partnerships
Adult Care & Wellbeing
Floor 1, Howden House
1 Union Street
Sheffield
S1 2SH

The service also offers an in-person drop-in service on Tuesdays at First Point Howden House, 1 Union Street, S1 2SH.

If you visit the drop-in session, please let the First Point reception team know you would like to speak to the Direct Payment Support Service when you arrive.

Additional Support Resources

Being an Individual Employer of Personal Assistants ensures that you are in control of your own care. For Personal Assistants, being employed under this style of care can be more varied than working for an agency or organisation. However, we at Disability Sheffield recognise that there is a lot to learn when becoming an Individual Employer or a Personal Assistant, and at times, both roles can be quite challenging.

Sign up to our Direct Payment Mailing List to keep up to date with local and national information, events and training

For more information click on the heading:

• Sheffield City Council
• PA Register
• Training and Learning Opportunities
• Resources to support you
• Being Person Centred: A Guide for Supervision and Appraisals in Adult Health and Social Care
• Make it Personal with a Personal Assistant
• Digital Security Guide and Animation
• Personal Health Budgets
• Safe Restraints Project

• Sheffield City Council

  The council website includes information on Direct Payments which can be found by clicking on the link: Direct Payments Information

  A group made up of people who employ PAs, PAs and SCC recently updated information on Employing a Personal Assistant Employing a Personal Assistant

• PA Register

  In partnership with Sheffield City Council, Disability Sheffield have developed the New Sheffield PA Register. We have designed and developed this Register for anyone whether an adult, young person or child wanting to employ a PA, and for Personal Assistants looking for work. the register is free to use.

  The register has been designed by people who have experience of recruiting PAs and who understand how time-consuming and frustrating a process it can be. We want to make the process of recruiting a PA as simple and hassle-free as possible for you. To find out more, to advertise for a PA or if you are a PA looking for work go to
  PA Register

  These are other places where you can advertise for a PA:
  Sheffield Forum
  Sheffield Gumtree
  Sheffield Help Yourself
  University of Sheffield Job Shop
  Sheffield Hallam University Job Shop
  Sheffield Carers
  Active Independence
  Indeed.co.uk
  Total Jobs

• Training and Learning Opportunities

  2023/24 PA and IE Training Directory
  Disability Sheffield have created a comprehensive directory detailing national, local and online training training courses for PAs and IEs available from various organisations.

  Download the directory here: 2023 / 2024 PA and IE Training Directory

  Please note, apart from the specific Disability Sheffield training listed, we DO NOT run any of the training courses listed in this directory; please contact the appropriate organisation if you have any questions concerning training detailed in the directory.

  Disability Sheffield PA/IE Training
  Disability Sheffield has once again secured funding from Skills for Care to enable us to offer a programme of free training courses during 2024/25.

  Download the Disability Sheffield 2023/24 PA and IE Training Brochure for details of the courses currently available free of charge to IEs and PAs: 2024-25 PA and Employer Training Flyer

  Or you can book by going to our Eventbrite Page

  Individual Employers can apply for funding for training from Skills for Care. You can find out more information on Skills for Care Website

  Sheffield Development Hub
  Further information on how to apply for other training opportunities through the Sheffield Development Hub and Sheffield City Council’s full training directory is available on the Council’s website.

  Individual Employer and Personal Assistant Development Group
  Disability Sheffield also facilitates the Individual Employer and PA Development Group. The group meets on a quarterly basis and works in a fully co-produced way to identify develop and implement learning opportunities and resources for IE and PAs in Sheffield. The group is open to anyone. If you would like to join email us at: info@disabiltysheffield.org.uk or phone Disability Sheffield on 0114 253 6750.

• Resources to support you

  We have developed a factsheet which provides an overview of the different local and national resources and tools available to disabled people who are thinking of employing a Personal Assistant (PA) or are currently employing a Personal Assistant. It covers some of the most widely used and regularly updated sources of information available:
  Employing a Peronal Assistant

  Skills for Care have developed a range of resources to support you in your role as an Individual Employer:
  http://www.skillsforcare.org.uk/individualemployers/

  There are also resources on Sheffield City Council website including the PA handbook which gives lots of information on employing a PA and template forms, adverts, contracts etc. Employing a PA

• Being Person Centred: A Guide for Supervision and Appraisals in Adult Health and Social Care

  Thanks to funding from Skills for Care the How to Guide was co-produced by Disability Sheffield on behalf of The Individual Employer and Personal Assistant Development Group, along with a range of colleagues involved in health and social care in Sheffield.

  The guide explores what being person-centred means as well as what can make supervision effective. The guide contains five work charts to support Managers to develop person-centred thinking and approaches with Employees through supervision.
  The guide is aimed at Managers who provide supervision to Employees working in a range of health and social care settings, such as the local authority, the NHS, community settings as well as Individual Employers.

  Download a copy of Being Person Centred: A Guide for Supervision and Appraisals in Adult Health and Social Care:

  Print Version Black on White

  Electronic Version with Editable Text Boxes

  Text Only Version

  A short film ‘being person centred’ highlighting the key themes included in the guide can be viewed here

• Make it Personal with a Personal Assistant

  Click here to see the film

  A film about what it’s like to have a personal assistant to support you if you have a disability or a mental health condition or are elderly. A personal assistant is a type of personalised support that someone can choose to have to help them do day to day things that they might struggle to do on their own. It could range from helping with household tasks, such as cleaning or cooking, to going out and about, shopping, visiting friends or playing sport.

  Watch the film for real stories, experiences and advice from individual employers and their personal assistants. This film was created by Leeds-based organisation Equal Voices in conjunction with Sheffield Individual Employer and PA development group.

• Digital Security Guide and Animation

  Employers of personal assistants (individual employers) have a legal obligation to store information about their staff safely and securely, regardless of whether the information is digital or paper based. Individual employers are classed as ‘Data Controllers’ and so under new data protection laws may need to be registered with the Information Commissioner’s Office by taking a self assessment online.

  Disability Sheffield have created a short animation on YouTube , which outlines this obligation along with a Digital Security Guide to ensure that as an employer, you are following the necessary policies and procedures that are in place for safe storage of data and usage of all devices within the home.

• Personal Health Budgets

  If you are in receipt of funding from the NHS then you may be eligible for a Personal Health Budget (PHB). At the moment they are only available for people in receipt of Continuing Health Care funding but PHB are likely to be rolled out to other groups of people in the near future.

  Our animation on Personal Health Budgets tells you about the way in which you can have much more control over all aspects of your care, including employing your own personal assistant. This animation was produced as part of a project funded by the Department of Health.

• Safe Restraints Project

  We have recently undertaken a ground-breaking piece of work with our colleagues at Active Independence and the Sheffield Individual Employer and PA development group looking at the whole issue of restraint and how it affects individual employers and their PAs. the leaflet Learn from Others has been developed by Skills for Care.

  The online resource we developed enables you to:
  Learn what we mean by the term restraint.
  Understand the different types of restraint.
  Understand the negative effects they can have on disabled people.

  Download a toolkit of resources you need to run a training course in your area. Let’s Talk About Restraint

  The aim of this resource is to encourage and facilitate carers, personal assistants and individual employers to navigate the difficult subject of restraint.

  We had lots of discussion around what we mean by restraint and decided that the most important thing is for employers and/or their families to have a proper conversation with their PAs about the type of restraint that is necessary and acceptable, and the restraint that is not acceptable.

  Download a copy of the leaflet we produced. If you would like a paper version please contact us

  The findings from a survey of over 100 individual employers, PAs, family carers and practitioners can be downloaded, along with an evaluation of our project which demonstrated what a valuable piece of work this has been.
  Click here to view the results of the survey
  Click here to view the external evaluation

  To find out more about the learning and development opportunities available please contact us by email info@disabiltysheffield.org.uk or phone Disability Sheffield on 0114 253 6750.