Your Rights and Responsibilities as a PA

As an employed Personal Assistant (PA) there are certain rights that you have under employment law. These cover a whole range of areas including:

Employment contracts
Working hours
Pay and wages
Flexible working
Holiday, sickness and leave
Redundancy
Dismissals
Health and wellbeing
Time off for family (maternity, paternity, parental, adoption and shared parental leave) and time off for dependants.

You can find helpful information about these rights throughout this Handbook – take a look at the Resources at the bottom of this page as a first step.

Your expectations as a PA

As any employee, you can expect your employer to consider your needs in a number of different areas, including:

Training
Support and Supervision
Learning and development
Health and safety
Any reasonable adjustments you might require
Any caring role that you might have.

Your responsibilities as a PA

Your responsibilities as a PA will be outlined in your contract of employment and job description.

It is your employer’s responsibility to decide how they want you to assist them, and you should follow their guidance and direction.

There are other general expectations of PAs that are outlined in national standards called the Health and Social Care Standards. These Standards have been written to make sure that individuals accessing care and support are treated with respect, dignity, and have their human rights upheld.

Reading the Health and Social Care standards will give you an idea of the expectations you should be working to. You can read the Standards at the bottom of this page.

As a PA you may deal with an adult or child who is at risk of harm. This means you also have a responsibility to report any concerns you may have about someone who has been a victim of harm or is at risk of harm. Find out more in the articles below, ‘Adult Support and Protection’ and ‘Child Protection’.