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4. Recruiting your own support worker
Finding your own support worker
If you wish to recruit your own support worker, there are a number of ways to find a worker. The following organisations may be able to help:
- your college or university
- your local Citizens Advice Bureau
- your local centre for independent living
- the Royal National Institute for the Blind ( RNIB)
- Yellow Pages
- Scottish Personal Assistance Employers Network ( SPAEN)
Preparing a job description
It is a good idea to draw up a job description for your support worker. The job description should give an overview of the duties you expect the worker to undertake, the hours of work and any particular skills or qualifications the support worker must have. Your local centre for independent living will be able to help you draw up a job description or you can look at a sample job description on the national centre for independent living website at: http://www.ncil.org.uk/downloads/personal-assistant-desc.pdf
Registers of support workers
Many institutions have a register or directory of support workers who they can call upon to meet the needs of disabled students. The register often includes assistants such as qualified dyslexia tutors, communication support workers and students or staff who have simply expressed an interest in working with disabled students. The Disability Adviser will know if such a register exists in your institution.
Advertising for support workers
You may be able to find people to help with tasks such as reading and notetaking in your department, perhaps a postgraduate student. There will probably be departmental noticeboards where you can advertise. You could also advertise around the institution, for example, on noticeboards in the Students' Union, in your institution's employment agency or job shop, and in your college or university student newspaper. Other places where you could place adverts include Jobcentre Plus, local newspapers, libraries and careers offices. Local groups of disabled people may also be able to help with ideas of where is best to advertise in your area. Centres for independent living can help with each stage of advertising for a support worker.
Advice about advertising
Do not put your address in the advert - it may not be a good idea to advertise where you live. Providing a phone number and/or email address allows you to screen callers and to eliminate unsuitable applicants.
You should provide some idea in the advert of what the job will involve. If you know what hours or how many hours a week you need someone, list them. You should also state the rate of pay and whether you want someone who has previous experience of this type of work.
If you are placing a written advertisement it must not contravene employment law by discriminating on the grounds of race, sexual orientation, disability, gender, or religion.
It is unlawful to discriminate against people for age-related reasons. Further advice on acceptable wording of advertisements is available from ACAS or your local centre for independent living.
Interviewing support workers
It is often best to interview possible support workers somewhere other than your home. You could ask the Disability Adviser to arrange a room for the interviews, you could use an office within the students union, or alternatively you may be able to use space within a local Independent Living Centre.
Before the interview, it is helpful to prepare a list of the key questions you want to ask each applicant, and anything you would want to tell them about the job. It may also be helpful to have someone else, such as another student who currently uses support workers, the Disability Adviser or a friend, to attend the interviews with you.
Anne wanted to interview three other students from her institution to decide which one to employ as a notetaker for her lectures. She arranged with the student association to borrow one of their meeting rooms as it was handy for both her and the applicants. Her friend sat in the interviews with her, and discussed with her afterwards about who to employ.
Checking references
As well as asking your worker to provide a Disclosure Scotland certificate, it is recommended that you also ask them to provide references. For example, the reference could be from a previous employer, the institution or someone else who knows the worker in a professional capacity. You should check the references before you make a job offer to the support worker.
Work agreements
If you employ your own support worker, it is a legal duty to provide them with a contract of employment within 8 weeks of their start date. This contract should be a written outline of the terms and conditions of employment, and both you and your employee should retain a signed copy. Template contracts are available from centres for independent living. The Department for Trade and Industry booklet Pl810, Contracts of Employment, gives more information. ( http://www.dti.gov.uk/employment/employment-legislation/employment-guidance/page16161.html ). Terms that you must include are:
- Number of hours - a week/a term/a year
- Times and days - information about regular sessions
- Place of work
- Hourly rate of pay - Disability Adviser can advise you about usual rates of pay
- Payment method - how will worker be paid and how often
- Holiday entitlement
- Sick leave entitlement
- Job title or description
- Notice period - termination of employment (by both parties)
- Period of contract - it is a good idea to draw up a new agreement each year as your circumstances may change
Other terms that you probably want to include are:
- Cancellation of support - how much advance notice you and the worker require
- Preparation - minimum notice required and turn around time for typing up notes
- Contacting each other - appropriate times and contact numbers for each party
- Agreed duties
- Review dates - often a good idea to have regular reviews to make sure the arrangement is working well for both you and your employee
You should agree responsibilities such as advising each other of cancellations and the notice period acceptable to you both. Make sure that you have some kind of back-up plan in case of last minute cancellations. For example, if you are suddenly unable to make a session then your support worker may incur travel, childcare and other costs. Similarly if your support worker falls sick, you will need a back-up plan, e.g. if you use a notetaker, a tape recorder might be an occasional substitute. Your support worker would then type up the notes when they are well which will ensure the work gets done.
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