Personal Assistants and Personal Budgets

  • Research type

    Research Study

  • Full title

    Personal Assistants and Personal Budgets: describing this emergent group and its relationship to the wider social care and health workforce.

  • IRAS ID

    208501

  • Contact name

    John Woolham

  • Contact email

    John.woolham@kcl.ac.uk

  • Sponsor organisation

    King's College London

  • Duration of Study in the UK

    1 years, 3 months, 1 days

  • Research summary

    The proposed study is intended to provide information about Personal Assistants, an emergent segment of the social care workforce. The introduction of Direct Payments enables people with eligible social care needs to employ Personal Assistants to help meet their needs for care or support. One study has estimated that there were at least 76,000 people working as Personal Assistants in 2008 (Adams & Godwin, 2008*). Their number can be expected to have risen since then as more people now receive Direct Payments. Very little is known about this group and the study aims to provide largely descriptive information about them.
    * Adams, L., & Godwin, L., Employment Aspects and Workforce Implications of Direct Payments. IFF Research for Skills for Care IFF Research Ltd, London.

  • REC name

    Social Care REC

  • REC reference

    16/IEC08/0028

  • Date of REC Opinion

    23 Sep 2016

  • REC opinion

    Further Information Favourable Opinion