Support workers and assistants for employed and self-employed people
Our support workers and assistants help employed and self-employed people who have, or think they may have, ADHD, autism, dyslexia, dyscalculia or dyspraxia, as well as people with other neurodivergent experiences. We help you plan and work through the parts of your day that get difficult. You don’t need a diagnosis to contact us. You can enquire with an Access to Work award, while applying for funding or about paying privately.
What an assistant can help you do
You might know exactly what your job needs, yet find it hard to get started or keep everything moving. An assistant works alongside you on those parts of the day: planning priorities, breaking work into steps or preparing for meetings.
Take an inbox that’s built up. You and your worker could sort the messages, work out what needs a reply and plan what to do next. When several deadlines compete, you could turn them into a sequence you can work through.
Finding support that suits you
We’ll talk about your work and how you like to work with someone. See how we select and match support workers. That helps us understand the worker, tasks and hours you need. If you have an award, we’ll look at what it covers too. You’ll agree the practical details and payment before support starts.
Examples to discuss
- Choose a starting point when several tasks feel equally urgent
- Work through a difficult email together
- Plan client deadlines alongside your own admin
- Prepare the points you want to raise in a meeting
- Build a routine for reviewing the week
The support is shaped around your work. You don’t need a diagnosis to make an enquiry. Access to Work has its own eligibility rules, and funded tasks must fit the approved award.
Employed and self-employed: start with your circumstances
If you're employed
Our workers can help you organise your own work, prepare for meetings and keep track of actions. If your employer is arranging or paying for support, they need to be involved in the practical details. You’ll also need to agree what information is shared. Read about support for employees.
If you work for yourself
Working for yourself can mean keeping client deadlines, meetings and admin in your head at once. An assistant can help you plan and work through your day. Self-employed people may be eligible for Access to Work; check the official guidance for your circumstances.
If you want someone to carry out routine administration for your business, such as formatting documents or tracking follow-ups, use business administration. That’s a separate service with its own work and charges.
What would make your working day easier?
- Your role and usual working pattern
- One or two tasks that are difficult to manage
- What you’ve already tried
- What you’d like support to help you do
- Whether funding is agreed, pending or not being sought
Choose how to explore the support
You already have an award
We can help you find a worker for the support your award approves. Here’s how to get started, including if you’d like to change provider.
You're applying, waiting or renewing
We help before and during applications and may be able to help after a refusal. We can also help you work through a renewal and plan your next support arrangement.
You want to pay privately
You can pay for an assistant yourself. We’ll talk through what you’d like help with and the hours, charges and terms. Private costs are separate from award-funded support and aren’t automatically reimbursed later.
Tell us where you want help
Not sure which option to choose? Pick individual support and explain what you’d like help with.
One example from your day is enough. You don’t need a detailed personal history.