Personal assistants

Personal Assistants (PAs) are employed by the person they support to help people who need social care and health, or health care, support. This could be either because of their age or disability and can enable them to live as independently as possible in their home. We ran an accreditation scheme called Support with Confidence that ended on 29 May 2024.

PAs can help carry out a wide range of tasks including:

  • personal care such as helping someone get washed and dressed
  • health related tasks
  • cleaning and housework
  • shopping services
  • preparing meals
  • leisure and recreation activities
  • helping someone to get involved in their local community
  • supporting someone at their work.

Working as a Personal Assistant can be very rewarding, challenging and varied as well as offering flexible working patterns to suit your other commitments.

Personal Assistants can be employed directly by one Employer, or they can work for several different Employers. They can also work as part of a team of PAs who are employed by and supporting an individual. People who employ PAs are either in receipt of a Personal Budget (Local Authority), Personal Health Budget (NHS) or pay privately (self-funding).

Find out more

For more information about being a PA visit Skills for Care – Being a PA.

If you are interested in becoming a PA, you can apply to join our Support with Confidence scheme.

If you want to know more about the Support with Confidence Scheme or becoming a PA please email nottshelpyourself@nottscc.gov.uk.

To view current PA job vacancies please visit the Notts Help Yourself website.

Data Protection

If you are working / looking to work as a self-employed PA, You may need to register with the Information Commissioners Office (ICO) as you may be a data controller under data protection legislation. You must check to see if this applies in your situation and can do so by checking on the Registration Self-assessment pages of the ICO website. Further guidance around data protection is also available on the ICO website.

It is the responsibility of a self-employed PA to assess whether they need to be registered with ICO.

Looking for a personal assistant

If you are looking for support for yourself then visit our I'm looking for a personal assistant page.

Shared Lives

If you are interested in caring for someone in your own home, find out more about becoming a Shared Lives carer.

Take the quiz

The "Could you Care?" quiz is aimed at people who are considering a career in adult social care. It presents six short scenarios and asks what you would do. For each scenario there are three options to chose from.

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