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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

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 fund

People who employ PAs or contract with self-employed PAs (aged 18 or over and living in England) can apply to Skills for Care for funding to train themselves and their PAs.

This funding is applicable for individual employers 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

You must evidence that self-employed PAs accessing the training are genuinely self-employed. This fund cannot 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, complete the application form or contact them for help: Individual employer funding | Skills for Care

Deadline for all applications is midday Friday 14 March 2025.

All funded training courses must be started before Monday 31 March 2025.

Q&A sessions

If you are thinking about applying and want to know more, you can join a Skills for Care Q&A session. They will explain how to apply, the benefits, and answer any questions.

Please email funding@skillsforcare.org.uk for the joining details and further information.

User led organisation fund

Skills for Care have funded 26 user led organisations (ULOs) and/or disabled peoples organisations (DPOs) to deliver training courses for 2024 to 2025. You can access the list of providers through Kingston Centre for Independent Living (KCIL).

These training courses are fully funded. They have been designed by people with lived experience to be suitable for individual employers and personal assistants. For the first time, self-employed PAs (and individuals commissioning them) can access the training.

How to apply

If you are interested in applying for any of the training listed on the Kingston Centre for Independent Living (KCIL) website, please contact the ULO offering the training directly.

For any further questions, contact funding@skillsforcare.org.uk