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Publication - Research and analysis

Social care - personal assistants: current data sources and future work

Published
26 July 2024
Directorate
Social Care and National Care Service Development
Topic
Building a new Scotland, Children and families, Communities and third sector, +11 more … Coronavirus (COVID-19) in Scotland, Cost of living crisis, Economy, Equality and rights, Health and social care, International, Programme for Government, Public safety and emergencies, Public sector, Scottish Budget, Work and skills
ISBN
9781836014676

Overview of key sources of data on personal assistants (PAs) in Scotland. The report supports the work of the Personal Assistants Programme Board and estimates the size of the personal assistant workforce in Scotland to aid with future workforce planning.

View supporting documents Supporting documents

Conclusion

This report has undertaken a comprehensive analysis of four available data sources on PA workforce - Insights in Social Care, Public Health Scotland; Excel Report, Scotland Excel; Personal Assistants Survey, Self Directed Support Scotland (SDSS) 2022 and 2010 Research Report by Reid Howie Associates.

These sources have been explored to estimate the number of PAs working across Scotland. This report highlights both the strengths and limitations of the methodologies involved with data collection as per the existing sources. In addition this report includes reflection on the existing data gaps which need to be addressed to obtain an estimate of the number and nature of the PA workforce in Scotland as well as insights regarding ways to reach the PA workforce in the future both in terms of data collection as well as collaboration with external partners (e.g. PHS, SDSS, ILFS and SDS Practice Network).

The findings will be made available online at the Scottish Government website. This report represents an audit of current sources and a way to calculate the size of the PA workforce going forward.

Contact

Email: toria.fraser@gov.scot

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