Personal Care Assistant for a senior lady P/T@ £280/weekly in NR7 - FTE - £34.2k - NORWICH - NR7

Are you looking for an exciting role that is fun, diverse and makes a difference to someone's life as a Personal Assistant?

Despite my different long term health conditions, I am a 51-year-old lady with great sense of humor, friendly, and empathic disposition. 
Among my health challenges there are: combined ADHD,  CPTSD, fibromyalgia, undiferentiated connective Tissue Disorder, diverticular disease, pancreatic insufficiency Adrenal Insufficiency, ostheoarthtitis in various areas of my body. 
Adrenal Insufficiency is considered a life threatening condition ever  time I have an adrenal crisis. However, I have this condition since 2012 and amj well equipped in the management adrenal crisis situations. 
I also have mobility issues due to these conditions and I use a wheelchair both indoors  and outdoors. 
I am a semi-retired health worker and still work two afternoons privately from home and online a week. I find that working gives me purpose and makes me feel part of everyday life.
I used to have many hobbies before early 2025, such as photography, building dollhouses, and quilting. However due to the deterioration of my health since July 2024, I have not been able to do any of them for a while now. 
I hope that by having extra support of the Personal Assistants since my reviewed care plan, I might be able to return to do them again and improve my wellbeing overall.   

Your position would be employed and contractual, funded by social services and by me (through my contribution) and payroll is managed by direct payments services from Social Services. Tax and NI are deducted at source at every payslip. 

I am looking for a personal assistant (FEMALE due to nature of personal care work) to work along side other personal assistants. In total we have a team of four personal assistants. 

The position offers hours for:
 A. mornings of 3 hours when breakfast, personal care, and lunch is carried out. This could include a Sat or Sun morning  per week. 9am to 12pm.

B. afternoons where you will help me access the community with my wheelchair, driving my automatic vehicle (I am soon to get a WAV due to the size of my wheelchair) and supporting me to different appointments and accessing community services.  This will be either for variable appointments or for social activities in the community which may include taking me with my 2 dogs to a field or a park and have a cup of coffee in a cafe there, as for example. (Hours to be negotiated)
C. evening shifts (it could include a Sat or Sunday) of 2 hours each. During these evening shifts, you will support me with personal care for the evening, prepare a hot freshly made meal using "hello fresh" and in my husband's trips help me and my dogs into bed.  

D. You can choose to take two additional hours of domestic work to be carried out on either Mondays, Wednesdays 1a] of Fridays afternoons.

E. If you have secretarial or administrative  experience, you can also apply for adding  an extra 1 hour a week of communication support you would carry out with me (I am dyslexic and have dyscalculia) by making phone calls, helping with rotas, booking and canceling appointments. 

F. if you have the availability and are interested: you can also request to be nominated for caring out occasional "Sleep ins" with 2 hours of work at night. This can be taken by you on the ocassional times that my husband travels. There is a fixed rate paid for the sleeping in part and in addition you also get paid for 2 additional  hours you may need to work at night if necessary.  This could be offered to you if you wanted to when my husband would be travelling for short periods for work or family needs. 

As part of this role, being able to cover the other Personal Assistants in case of sickness and/or holiday is ESSENTIAL. 

We operate as a cohesive team working towards the same goal.  This is maintained through positive communication, for example, by notifying all, via a private WhatssApp group any sickness as soon as possible and holidays that have been approved, so that cover can be arranged considering everyone's  availability and possibility to cover. You will also inform us, so we can plan rotas, when you are unavailable to cover so we don't disturb or intrude on your private persona  time.    
In summary, the job consists of two parts, regular shifts PLUS cover as and when required  by other PAs ( If everyone contribute, it's not too much pressure on any one person.
 
REQUIREMENTS: 

1. Existence of prior experience in carrying out personal care is ESSENTIAL (shower and washing my hair/drying/(un)dressing/hair drying/ styling).
 2. Ability TO COOK following a recipe, once given all ingredients from HELLO FRESH.
 3. MUST LIKE AND NOT BE ALLERGIC TO DOGS AND CATS. Feeding our two dogs and taking them to the garden regularly whilst staying with them outside, is also essential. The feeding would only occur when my husband travels. We have two very friendly older female cocker spaniels. 
4. Wishing  to work as part of a team as well as working independently when at our home. 

5. Ability to use technology such as phones apps for rotas, electronic calendar on your phone that is shared among all, and a WhatsApp group where notifications are writte by the PAs for the whole team.  
I encourage applicants from all different backgrounds with prior experience in care and with the necessary requirements described here to apply and attend an interview.

An interview will take place either online or at my home when it may be convenient for both of us;
 If the time suggested for the interview is not suitable, please suggest suitable times for you.  
I am able to book interviews  usually on Mondays, Wednesdays  or Fridays, and weekends early afternoons. 

You will be considered for an interview ONCE you have answer these six questions.
 1. How long have you worked as a personal assistant/ carer? 
 2. What do you enjoy most in your caring role?
 3. Tell me about a positive experience dogs and with cats.
 4. Tell me about your past and/or current experience and how you feel about cooking at home or elsewhere.
 5. How would you describe your personality to a complete stranger?
 6. What could get in the way of you fulfilling your role here as part of our team and as my personal assistant? 
 
 I look forward to hearing from you soon.
  
SUMMARY TERMS AND CONDITIONS 
 -The rate of pay for this position is £17.52 per hour.
 -Hours and times of work: 
Mornings 9-12pm, 
Afternoons (TBC)
Evening 6-8 pm or similar

Total hours: it varies on how many shifts you can take on a regular basis plus covers when necessary as part of a team member. THERE ISN'T A FIXED NUMBER OF HOURS YOU MUST TAKE ON. It depends  on your needs and availability.  
 -Further details of your a specific duties will be discussed when you will be shadowing a senior PA and learning on the job.  This shadowing time is paid to you. Everything that will be expected of you will be explained prior to acceptance of the position.
 -The annual holiday entitlement for this position will be 5.6 weeks wte accrued with the hours you have worked. In other words 12.06% of your worked and therefore accrued hours will convert into the number of holiday hours you will have at your disposal to request.
It is your responsibility to ask the rest of the team, through our WhatsApp group for cover. 
Your holidays quota starts in April 1st 2026. 
You will be required  to take up essential training for employed workers online. These hours are also paid. This training is essential as it ensures you get insured for the position. 
 -As this job requires: Manual Handling, and Food Handling you will be required undertake annual training for these subjects.

 The post is subject to the following:  
 A satisfactory enhanced Disclosure & Barring Service (DBS) check. If you have one under a year old, we can use that one.  Otherwise, the cost of obtainin  a DBS will be covered by Social Services.
Satisfactory references from two referees, one of which must be your current or last line manager/ employer.  The second can be a professional or a character reference of someone NOT related to you or another employer.
Completion of a satisfactory probationary period of 6 months. If required, this probationary period can be extended to ensure you are meeting the required aspects of this role and we will give you enough time for this to occur.
 
 I look forward to meeting you soon.