Thousands of Personal Assistants receive thank you payment

Self Directed Support Scotland (SDSS) are proud to have been a part of the Scottish Government’s ‘thank you’ payment process for Personal Assistants (PAs), which delivered nearly 5,000 payments of up to £500 to PAs.

Following months of planning with stakeholders, including Scottish Government, SDSS and payroll providers, on 30 June 2021, an online and postal application process was launched. SDSS brought key membership stakeholders into the development process for their contribution, and to ensure that payroll providers were affected minimally in delivery. The final process allowed eligible PAs to apply for up to £500 as a thank you for the work done during exceptional circumstances amidst a global pandemic.

SDSS, along with our members from the PA Network, played a vital part in ensuring PAs were supported in the application process, as they delivered a helpline service. The PA Bonus Helpline was available Monday to Friday and provided support to complete applications, answered questions relating to the process and signposted callers to the right place.

During the three-month application period, the PA Bonus Helpline answered over 1,700 calls and supported PAs to resolve over 100 issues. To ensure access was available to all PAs, the helpline team also supported over 300 applications to be made over the phone.

This was a complex project for everyone involved and we’re happy to have been able to support PAs throughout the country to receive their well deserved thank you bonus. We’d like to say thank you to our membership and particularly the PA Network, LCiL, GCiL, Encompass and AILN for their contributions to the process.

You can learn more about the impact of the payment process here.