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A team of social entrepreneurs have turned a vision into reality with the launch of a new, not-for-profit service for disabled and older people in the north west.
Your Life’s aim is to help more disabled and older people to enjoy a better quality of life by employing a Personal Assistant (PA). The concept supports the goal of all local authorities to help more people access a PA and is so unique it attracted £250,000 of funding, including support from the Department of Health.
The community interest company opened its Northwich office in May and currently operates throughout the North West although there are plans to extend the service nationally.
Chief Executive John Fielding said: “The idea for Your Life came when we saw that a significant number of disabled and older people were put off employing a Personal Assistant through fear, disinterest or an inability to consider the responsibilities of being an employer. We wanted to remove this barrier because having a Personal Assistant can make such a big difference to someone’s quality of life.
“Our role is to work with a disabled or older person to select the right Personal Assistant, and then to take away worries including the financial, supervisory, management and training aspects of employing someone.”
Your Life’s clients may fund their own care, or receive support such as Direct Payments from their local authority, allowing the individual to ‘buy’ a specified number of hours from a PA. Because Your Life operates on a not-for-profit basis, costs are low and the service attracts high quality Personal Assistants who get greater career satisfaction by working only with specific individuals, as well as higher rates of pay.
John added: “Without this service, people’s choices are limited to either traditional domiciliary care or juggling the responsibilities of acting as employer to their own care staff with limited support. This offers limited scope for personalisation and is often more costly to the local authority and less beneficial to the individual involved.
“What’s really heartening is that feedback from our service users is really positive so far – for some this has unleashed a whole host of opportunities, and that’s exactly what drives us forward.”
Your Life can be contacted on 0845 387 1107
or www.yourlifeyourway.org.uk.
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