Learning and development will help you to do your job better and safer. There are lots of different ways you can learn.
This may be shadowing a more experienced colleague, being trained by your employer, doing an apprenticeship, gaining knowledge through reading or more formal training where you gain a recognised qualification.
Speak to your employer about your learning and development and how it can help to meet their needs.
Funding for training
Completing a training course does take time and usually costs money. Your employer can apply for funding from Skills for Care to cover the full cost (including travel and personal assistant cover expenses) of care related training. The funding can be used for short courses and full qualifications.
As a personal assistant, you could highlight this funding to your employer and, if necessary, support them to complete an application form.
Find out more about funding opportunities.
If your employer is receiving funding from their local authority or from the NHS (usually a direct payment), they may pay for training or offer free training.
If your employer pays for your training, they may ask you to sign an agreement that states you’ll pay back the cost of the training if you leave their employment before the training is completed, or within a certain time period after you’ve completed the training.
Further career options
Adult social care is a growing sector which offers a range of rewarding careers, with many different job roles and lots of opportunities for progression. For more information about health and social care careers visit Think Care Careers or NHS Careers.
Individual employer and personal assistant training guide
This guide aims to support individual employers and personal assistants regularly identify their training needs. The guide consists of a set of questions to support both decide:
- what training needs they have
- the best way to meet these needs
- routes to explore where they can find the training
- funding options to pay for the training
- approaches to evaluating the training – what’s gone well and what other training needs have been identified.
The guide also comes with a set of templates to support map out essential and desirable training needs.
View the guide
PDF - 1.42Mb
This guide is for personal assistants to help you develop in your role. It will help you think about what learning you might want to do and how best to do it.