Training your personal assistants and support workers — Easy Read

Start with your support

List the support you need and what a worker must understand or be able to do. Include communication, consent, privacy, culture, daily routines and your wishes. You may also need training linked to equipment or a particular health plan. Explain the difference you want training to make: for example, being understood or having staff follow your moving and handling plan.

Know who is responsible

If you directly employ a personal assistant, called a PA, you have employer responsibilities. Ask your employer-support service for help organising induction and training. If a care agency employs the workers, ask its manager what training and supervision it provides. CQC-registered providers must ensure their staff have the necessary skills and support. A course should not be sold to you as a substitute for a provider meeting its own duties.

Ask about council funding

A council personal budget must be sufficient for the needs the council is meeting through the agreed plan. When employing PAs is the agreed arrangement, ask the council to include the necessary employment and training costs. Explain why each cost is needed. Ask for a review if the amount cannot buy safe, suitable support. This is different from having permission to buy any course you prefer.

Ask about NHS funding

Necessary worker training should be discussed with the CHC team even when the NHS arranges care directly. Ask the commissioner, provider and responsible clinician who will arrange and fund it. If you use an NHS direct payment, the budget must cover the full cost of the services agreed in the care and support plan. NHS England expressly includes necessary PA training and development among employment costs. Ask the team to record the arrangements and how essential care will continue during training.

Cost the complete arrangement

For the funding discussion, list course fees, paid attendance time, suitable replacement care, travel, access support and any necessary equipment. Also ask about assessment of skills, supervision, refresher training and training new starters. Agree who pays each item before booking. Keep approval and invoices. Check whether a provider’s existing fee or another funding source already covers the same cost; ask for an explanation of any extra charge.

Health tasks need an individual decision

A suitably competent registered health professional decides whether a particular healthcare task can safely be delegated to a PA. Delegation means asking someone else to carry out an agreed task. It needs training, assessment of the PA’s competence and arrangements for ongoing support and review. Ask for a written plan saying what the PA can do, when to stop and whom to contact.

Keep responsibilities clear

The registered professional remains accountable for deciding that delegation is appropriate; that accountability cannot be handed to the PA. The PA is responsible for accepting and carrying out the task within their competence. A certificate, family agreement or funding award does not authorise every procedure. If the task or the person’s needs change, ask the responsible clinician to review the arrangements.

Practise, check and refresh

Ask the trainer how learning will be checked in your actual support setting. Agree any supervised practice before a worker acts alone. Record who completed training, which tasks were checked and when review is due. Include relief workers and new staff in the plan. Ask for further help if workers are unsure or instructions from different professionals conflict. Do not leave essential care dependent on one trained person.

Current funded training opportunities

The old Skills for Care Individual Employer Fund has closed. For 2026–27, eligible user-led organisations receive funding to provide training for individual employers and PAs, including self-employed PAs. Employers may fund their care themselves, through council direct payments or through NHS personal health budgets. Individuals use the available training rather than applying to the old fund. The NHS Business Services Authority training hub lists organisations and courses. Ask about eligibility, places, access needs and any costs before booking.

Check dates and availability

The 2026–27 ULO programme is due to deliver its funded training by 28 February 2027. An organisation’s grant application deadline is different from your course booking deadline. Courses and places vary. The hub includes online and face-to-face options; some organisations prioritise local residents. A closed or unsuitable course does not resolve an unmet training need: return to the council, NHS team or provider to agree safe arrangements.

If training or funding is refused

Ask for the decision and reasons in writing. Explain the assessed need, the risk or difficulty without training, the proposed course and its full cost. Ask what alternative will meet the need and who will arrange it. Council decisions use the council review and complaints route. NHS budget decisions use the ICB review and complaints route. Seek urgent help from the responsible care team if current support is unsafe.

Training the people who support you

Start with you

List the skills

Ask who pays

Keep your support in place

Health tasks

Check the learning

Ongoing help

Using a care agency

Find courses

If there is a problem

What you can do next

More useful links