References for Personal Assistants

[Unicorngirl01]

Hi, we have been approved Personal Assistant hours per week. We intend to employ a family member (doesn’t live with us) This person has relocated to where we live and hasn’t worked for for a few years. So they would struggle to put anyone down for a ‘reference’ from someone who knows them in employment. Any suggestions? However, can provide several ‘personal’ references.

[DrSarahmac]

hi. Who do you have to provide references to? It sounds like you have the funding and have to employ someone yourselves so not clear who needs the reference? We engage a PA privately for my daughter using money from her PIP payment so don’t need to get references other than to satisfy ourselves. It might be easier to give advice if we can understand your situation better.

[Unicorngirl01 in reply to DrSarahmac]

Hi DrSarahmac thank you for replying. Sorry I should have said this is a Wales council thing (3.5 hours fo a pre-teen). They use a 3rd party called Dewis Wales and it’s this company who want the references.

[DrSarahmac in reply to Unicorngirl01]

Oh I see. I guess all you can do is explain the situation. References should be about part of the overall checking of someone’s ID and looking for any red flags - you never get more than that from a reference - so hopefully personal references will suffice. Good luck

[Maurice_Mencap Partner]

Hi Unicorngirl01 , it might be worth phoning the Wales Learning Disability Helpline to get some advice on this - you can reach them free on 0808 8000 300 or by filling out the online form here: mencap.org.uk/contact/conta...

Hope that helps. 🙂

[Unicorngirl01 in reply to Maurice_Mencap]

Thanks Maurice_Mencap have filled in the contact form 👍