The Home Care Direct platform we feel is very suited to enabling the use of personal budgets, direct payments and the use of personal assistance services (PAS) in the disability sector. Because of this we are promoting and differentiating, contracting with personal assistants for people with a disability as opposed to carers.

For many years now, the disability sector in Ireland has been pushing for the increased roll out of personal budgets, which can give people with a disability the option of taking control over how they are supported to live like everyone else.

People with a disability who want to go down this path, very often elect to use a Personal Assistant (P.A.). Traditionally, the person with a disablity would have had to become an employer of their personal assistant with all the administration and cost that this involves. In fact, this necessity has been one of the principle reasons why personal budgets aren’t more widespread.

With the Home Care Direct platform, we have removed the need for a person with a disablity to become an employer, without removing any of their control.

We do this by setting the personal assistant up to work for themselves, through their own custom-made company. The Home Care Direct platform handles the setting up of the company and its subsequent management, including payroll and tax returns, so that the personal assistant only has to concentrate on on-boarding clients and delivering a great service.

The person with a disablity still chooses their own personal assistant, negotiates the cost and deals directly with the personal assistant on all daily matters but without having to be their employer.

The person with a disablity who is comfortable managing their own budget and personal assistant, can get significantly more hours for their allotted budget by using the Home Care Direct platform and in addition their P.A. can increase their earnings by up to 80%.

We feel strongly that better rewards for personal assistants, translate into better quality of service for the person with a disablity through better continuity and more proactive personal assistants.

What is a Personal Assistant?

A personal assistant is a person who provides the supports necessary for a person with a disablity to live their life like everyone else. They allow the person with a disablity to have the freedom to have the same choices as everyone else in housing, transport, education and employment.

The personal assistant provides support and assistance at the discretion and direction of the person with a disablity.

While a personal assistant shares many of the characteristics of a carer such as empathy, organisation and trust, there is a distinct difference between a carer and a personal assistant. A personal assistant is much more about enabling a person with a disablity to live an independent life of their choosing.