P2PU | The Personal Assistant's Online Guidebook - NOT CURRENT VERSION

Your Rights at Work

As you might remember from Video 1.1, when you're working as a Personal Assistant you are an employee and you are entitled to all of the same rights as any other employee.

This includes an entitlement to:

A job description
A contract of employment
paid holidays
paid maternity or paternity leave
paid sick leave

You may also be entitled to be automatically enrolled onto a workplace pension scheme if your are aged 22 or over (and under state pension age), and you are paid over £192 a week or £833 a month (figures correct for 2015-16 and are reviewed annually).

You can find out more about your employment rights by looking at the TUC's factsheets below

UNISON PAs

As a PA working alone or in a small team, you are more vulnerable to the few bad employers that are out there. Like all other workers you have the right to join a trade union to help to give you protection and support you in your employment. UNISON, the trade union for public service workers, is leading part of the partnership behind this Guidebook, and are committed to protecting Personal Assistants and promoting the development of the PA role.

And because UNISON know that this kind of work can be isolating they have also created a dedicated online community, the UNISON Personal Assistants Support Network, to provide information and guidance on workplace issues that face Personal Assistants. The site does focus mainly on England, but it gives you the chance to share ideas and best practice and offers links to other organisations that offer support and information.

As a member of UNISON you can take advantage of all the union has to offer, including: