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7. Dealing with problems
Having a clear working agreement with your support workers from the outset is very important to help avoid misunderstandings at a later date. If problems arise, then the Disability Adviser should be your first point of contact for help and advice. Students' Union welfare or finance officers may also be a source of information.
Your support workers are entitled to receive payment for their time. However, SAAS will not pay if work is not undertaken. It is therefore very important that you are clear from the outset with your support workers about what work is to be undertaken at what times. You should also keep a clear record of what work has been completed and ask support workers to sign timesheets accordingly.
The non-medical personal help allowance is paid in arrears, so you should send your invoices to SAAS as soon as possible, to allow them time to make payments to you, your institution or your helper. SAAS can make advance payments in some circumstances - you should contact them for advice if you need an advance payment.
There may be some situations where your support worker is not providing the service that you need. For example, they may be continually late or not performing tasks effectively. If this is the case, you should seek advice from the Disability Adviser or a centre for independent living. If you do ultimately have to dismiss your employee, it is important that you have first taken advice on this and that you act 'reasonably' at every stage.
Again, a clear working agreement from the start of their employment, regularly reviewed, is the best way to ensure that difficulties are resolved quickly, or do not happen at all!
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