As part of our continued commitment to personalisation in Wigan, we are investing further into our valued Personal Assistant (PA) workforce across the borough.
The additional funding ensures that all Personal Assistants in Wigan are paid at the ‘The Real Living Wage’ and provides a training allowance.
Training is an area that has been raised by many individuals, so we hope this is a step in the right direction and hopefully illustrates our commitment to listening to, and supporting those with Direct Payments.
£0.20 per hour of the direct payment personal assistant funding rate is allocated to provide training for your Personal Assistants.
Should your budget be insufficient to cover the cost of essential training, please contact the Direct Payment Team on 01942 489579.
In addition to the training budget, Wigan Council also have a variety of E-Learning modules for PAs, who provide support to our residents.
For more information about how to apply for this training, contact the Direct Payment Duty Team on 01942 489579 and they will be able to assist with this.
You will need to provide the PA's full name, email address, and the courses that you want your PA to be enrolled on.
For more information view the full list of courses available.
Skills for Care - Individual Employer Funding
As an individual employer you can apply for the individual employer funding to access training for you and your PAs.
This funding can be used to cover training costs to develop your skills as an employer, direct costs of completing training/qualifications, hiring replacement support whilst your usual PA is attending training courses and travel.
This funding is available to people who employ their own care and support staff using an adult social care direct payment (personal budget) or using your own money ('self-funder').
How to apply
To apply for funding, you'll need to complete the application form which can be found on the Skills for Funding - Individual Employer funding webpage (external link).
The guidance document explains more about the funding, how to complete the application form, and what documents you need to send with your application. You can ask for assistance to complete the application form, but only you as the employer can agree to the conditions of the grant.
For more guidance please view How to apply for Individual Employer Funding (external link).
Independent Living Group
Independent Living Group (ILG) Academy offer 6 free training courses for Personal Assistants to access. These include:
- Coronavirus Awareness and Infection Control
- Health and Safety Awareness
- Stress Awareness
- Risk Assessment Awareness
- Medication Awareness
- GDPR Awareness.
Wigan and Leigh Embrace
Wigan and Leigh Embrace provide online training sessions, once per month, covering the following modules:
- Responding to behaviour
- Understanding ADHD
- Sleep support.
To register your interest, please contact Wigan and Leigh Embrace on 01942 233323.