Training for PAs
Adult Social Care courses
We offer a wide range of free adult social care courses. These courses will provide you with valuable skills and knowledge for the care and support services you are offering or plan to offer.
For more information on Adult Social Care courses currently available, visit: East Sussex Learning Portal
Independent Lives
Independent Lives provides a wide range of quality training courses for PAs supporting East Sussex residents. The training is delivered by experienced and fully qualified trainers and is designed to meet the needs of both PAs and the people they support.
The courses are either offered free of charge or at a low cost.
For more information click here: Training - PA Pages
If you are thinking of becoming a PA or need any additional guidance, including where to source training for this role, please contact us:
Telephone: 01903 219482
Email: advice@independentlives.org
Skills for Care
Skills for Care are a strategic workforce development and planning body for adult social care. They work with employers, Government and partners to ensure social care has the right people, skills and support to deliver high quality care and support.
Training guide
Skills for Care has produced a guide to support individual employers and personal assistants to identify their training needs.
It prompts people to think about their training needs and:
- the best way to meet these
- where to find the training
- funding options to pay for the training
- approaches to evaluating – what’s gone well and what other training needs have been identified.
Read the: Individual employer and personal assistants training guide
Individual Employer Funding
People who employ PAs or contract with self-employed PAs (aged 18 or over and living in England) can apply for funding to train themselves and their personal assistants (PAs).
This funding can be used to cover training costs for people to develop skills as an employer, direct costs of completing training/qualifications, hiring replacement support whilst their usual PA is attending training courses and travel.
You can apply for up to five training courses per person and once completed you can apply for more.
For more information: Individual Employer Funding
Who can apply
This funding is applicable for:
Individual employers (IEs) living in England, aged 18 and over who employ their own PAs or contract* with self-employed PAs, using:
- their own money, or
- adult social care direct payments or
- NHS Personal Health Budgets.
And Personal assistants employed or contracted* as above.
People can check whether they are self-employed with HMRC:
Skills for Care will ask for evidence to ensure that self-employed PAs accessing the training are genuinely self-employed. This fund can’t be used to pay for PAs who are employed by an organisation.
*Contract means those with true self-employed status.
How to apply
To apply for funding check the webpage above for the application form or get in touch with Skills for Care for help
The Deadline for all applications is midday Friday 13 March 2026, provided Skills for Care have funding left, and all funded training courses must be started before Tuesday 31 March 2026.
Q&A sessions
If you are thinking about applying and want to know more, you can join one of the Skills for Care Q&A sessions where they will run through how to apply, exploring the benefits to developing yourself/your PAs and answering any questions.
Please email funding@skillsforcare.org.uk for the joining details.
User Led Organisation Funding
Skills for Care will soon be announcing a programme of fully funded training provided by user led or disabled people’s organisations (ULOs) for people who employ PAs or contract with self-employed PAs using any form of funding (aged 18 or over and living in England).
ULOs and disabled D/deaf or autistic led groups which are interested in delivering this can apply before 20th May 2025 for funding for this.
For more information: User Led Organisation Funding
Insurance providers
Many Personal Assistant Insurance Providers offer a comprehensive selection of e-learning training and CPD accredited courses for PAs and their employers who are seeking to broaden their skillset and knowledge base. Check with your insurer to see what they offer.