Can anyone tell me if you can have your partner as your p/a
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Hi general rule is no due to the conflict of partner and assistance was told have to be one self employed fo a statement etc etc didn’t pursue as sounded alot of work just to help my son. Could always ask social work may be another way round it.
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Hi there,
Thanks for your question ‘Fingers 88’, I think that is a really useful thing to ask.
There is actually a specific bit of legislation that deals with employing family members, such as your partner, son, daughter, grandparents etc. This is called ‘The Self-directed Support (Direct Payments) (Scotland) Regulations 2014’. Section 3 covers the employment of family members which you can find here: The Self-directed Support (Direct Payments) (Scotland) Regulations 2014
What you do need to remember is that employing a family member is seen as an ‘exceptional circumstance’.So this has to meet the criteria in this Act and be agreed by the Local Authority.
So the rules around this are:
(a) the family member, direct payment user and local authority agree to the family member providing the support
(b) the family member is capable of providing the support; and
(c) any of the factors in paragraph (3) apply
The other factors are:
(a) there is a limited choice of service providers who could provide the support
(b) the direct payment user has specific communication needs which mean it will be difficult for another provider to provide the support
(c) the support is required at times at which the family member will be available to provide it and where other providers would not reasonably be so available;
(d) the intimate nature of the support required by the direct payment user makes it preferable to the direct payment user that support is provided by a family member
(e) the direct payment user has religious or cultural beliefs which make the provision of support by a family member preferable to the direct payment user
(f) the direct payment user requires palliative care
(g) the direct payment user has an emergency or short-term necessity for care; or
(h) there are other factors in place which make it appropriate, in the opinion of the local authority, for that family member to provide the support
In addition, there has been some updated Scottish Government Guidance on COVID-19 and SDS hat supports the temporary employment of family members during the pandemic, which you can find here: Supporting documents - Coronavirus (COVID-19) self-directed support: guidance - 11 March 2022 - gov.scot
If you can let me know which Local Authority area you live in, I can let you know what Independent SDS Information and Support service is available to you. They could hopefully support you further if you have any other questions about this.
Thanks,
Mark