The Creative Care and Support: Pitlochry project partners quickly became aware that many of the people living in Pitlochry are self-employed or interested in setting up as self-employed. This was difficult to combine with the requirement for PA support in the area. Therefore, in December 2013, we held a meeting at Perth and Kinross Council HQ to gather together key stakeholders in the discussion about SDS, personal assistants and the development of rural services.
The aims of the meeting was to understand how we collectively could best create a framework for engagement with the Pitlochry community which would allow for individuals, groups and organisations to
- meet outcomes
- remain legal
- be creative
- respond to local needs
- provide choice
We all appreciated that there are challenges to achieving this together, so we agreed to undertake the following actions:
Communications
- Leaflets and websites that mention self-employment have to be clear but not prescriptive
- Investigate updating the information on Perth and Kinross Council website
- The council should collaborate with Growbiz around the 4 options for SDS
- Create clear info on contracting as well as accessible clear information on employment/self employment distinctions.
Support to clients
- Collectively engage with all in the individual areas
- Locality working to support local people and partners
- Create a clear and comprehensive support package to enable parent/carer to manage SDS package
- Long term โ information event for parents/carers children/young people.
Potential solutions discussed
- Micro-provision
- Co-operatives
- Employing family members
- Variable rates of pay
- Raise the profile of the job
- Voucher payment
- Safeguarding employers w. Personal Assistants
- Self-employment of PA is ok for activities such as art
The group agreed to work further on the issues to create a more easy and streamlined way to ensure choice in the area.
(Image by Jeffrey Beall, via Flickr)