Workplace Personal Assistants

• Research type

  Research Study

• Full title

  Exploring the role of workplace personal assistants for physically disabled people

• IRAS ID

  189841

• Contact name

  Katie Graham

• Contact email

  katie.graham@york.ac.uk

• Sponsor organisation

  University of York

• Duration of Study in the UK

  1 years, 5 months, 30 days

• Research summary

  Disabled people are entitled to support in their workplace to meet their specific needs. This can include provision of a personal assistant (PA). While there is a body of evidence on the PA role within the context of supporting disabled people in their homes, there is little work to inform and support the role of the PA in disabled people’s workplaces.
  The objectives of this study are:

  1. To explore the context and roles of workplace PAs who support physically disabled people
  2. To explore the relationships between workplace PAs, disabled people who employ them and others in the disabled person’s workplace
  3. To co-create a support resource in conjunction with workplace PAs, disabled people, and employers

  We will recruit up to 15 case study groups, each consisting of a disabled person, their workplace PA(s) and their employer. We will observe five of these groups in the disabled person’s workplace, and interview all of them (and a selection of individuals who are not part of the case study groups) about funding for workplace PAs, their roles and relationships within the workplace. In addition, we will interview representatives of up to ten organisations who provide advice and support to workplace PAs, disabled people, or employers.

  We will work with groups of disabled people, employers and workplace PAs to produce guidance about being, employing or working with a workplace PA.

• REC name

  Social Care REC

• REC reference

  16/IEC08/0003

• Date of REC Opinion

  15 Feb 2016

• REC opinion

  Further Information Favourable Opinion