Kent County Council Personal Assistant Web Recruitment Tool Terms & Conditions

Please read this section carefully as it is legally binding on you.

Kent PA Web (kent.paweb.org) is a website created, managed by Public Partnerships UK Ltd (PPL) on behalf of Kent County Council . It provides a platform for people seeking to employ Personal Assistants  or micro-enterprises in the care sector to browse available Personal Assistants or micro-enterprises and submit messages to Personal Assistants or micro-enterprises of their choice. It also provides a messaging functionality where people seeking to employ Personal Assistants can communicate with potential employees over the website.

Throughout these "Terms and Conditions" the following terms apply:

"Website" means kent.paweb.org

"Material" means any information, text, graphics, data, links, programming code or other material published, contained or available on our website.

"You", "your" and "yours" means the person(s) accessing our website.

"We", "us" and "our" means Kent County Council

When you use or register with Kent PA Web you agree to abide by the following terms and conditions.

NB: These terms and conditions may be varied by Kent County Council from time to time and it is the responsibility of people using the site and its services to keep up to date with the terms and conditions.

1. PLEASE NOTE:

The Personal Assistants/micro-enterprises registered on the Kent PA Web website are not employed by Kent County Council and have not been vetted by Kent County Council or PPL.

It is the responsibility of the user of this service to check whether the Personal Assistant has the correct valid DBS (Disclosure and Barring Service - previously CRB) certificate and that you are happy with the status; it is also the user’s responsibility to ensure that references are obtained and checked and to satisfy themselves that the Personal Assistant/micro-enterprise has the skills and suitability to undertake the role offered.

2. Users of this service also have a legal obligation to check that the person they want to employ is legally entitled to work in the UK. Comprehensive advice and guidance is available via following this link: https://www.gov.uk/legal-right-work-uk

Helpful tips on employing a Personal Assistant in Care are available via the following link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lKbxguqi4hM

3. Kent County Council do not accept any responsibility or liability whatsoever for the quality, suitability or timeliness of any Personal Assistant’s/micro-enterprise’s work. It is entirely the responsibility of the user of this service to ensure that the Personal Assistant,/micro-enterprise their terms and conditions of engagement and the outcome of their work are appropriate and meet their requirements.

 

4. General

These terms and conditions may be varied by Kent County Council and PPL from time to time and it is the responsibility of people using the site and its services to keep up to date with the terms and conditions.

No other terms and conditions shall apply or have any effect on the applicability of these terms and conditions which shall govern to the exclusion of all other terms and conditions.

The information contained in this web site does not represent any statement by Kent County Council as to the suitability or otherwise of any employers or potential employees.

Kent County Council do not accept any responsibility or liability whatsoever for the quality, suitability or timeliness of any employee's work. It is entirely your responsibility to ensure that the employee, their terms and conditions of employment and the outcome of their work are appropriate and meet your requirements.

Whilst every care has been taken in the compilation of this information, neither Kent County Council nor PPL will be held responsible for any loss, damage or inconvenience caused as a result of using the site and for any inaccuracy or error within these pages.

Whilst every care has been taken in the compilation of this information, neither Kent County Council nor PPL will be held responsible for any loss, damage or inconvenience caused as a result of using the site and of any inaccuracy or error within these pages.

5. Purpose of this Website

Kent PA Web is a website that enables people to advertise a vacancy or register as a Personal Assistant in the care sector.  Individuals seeking to employ a Personal Assistant/micro-enterprise in the care sector can create messages and browse the available Personal Assistants/micro-enterprises before submitting their message to selected Personal Assistants/micro-enterprises. Personal Assistants/micro-enterprises in the care sector can register to display a profile on the site for potential employers to browse and can receive messages from these potential employers. Potential employers and Personal Assistants/micro-enterprises can then communicate using the site’s messaging functionality. Please note: records of communication are kept on the system, so please bear this in mind when using the messaging function.

Messages between Personal Assistants/micro-enterprises and employers are not checked by PPL, however individuals have the opportunity to report any inappropriate behaviour to PPL who will then report back to Kent County Council if necessary. The content of messages is the responsibility of the individual and the individual should ensure that they are comfortable with what they are sending before doing so. The messages must not include any offensive content, if an individual is found to be sending such messages, they may be removed from the website.

Any inappropriate language or behaviour should be reported immediately via the ‘Contact us’ function on the website. Neither PPL nor Kent County Council will be responsible for any inappropriate language or behaviour being included by the employer or Personal Assistant/micro-enterprise in their communications.

We reserve the right to remove any messages deemed inappropriate and sending inappropriate messages may result in your Kent PA Web account being terminated.

Should the employer require assistance or supervision in their communication with Personal Assistants/micro-enterprises, an appropriate representative should assist them with using the messaging function.

Kent PA Web is not a care or recruitment agency and is also not an automated matching service and as such, Kent County Council or PPL cannot be held responsible or liable for the recruitment of Personal Assistants or micro-enterprises. We strongly recommend that a thorough recruitment process is always followed including interviews, following up references and carrying out Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) checks.

Anyone using this website must understand that Kent County Council have no obligation to connect employers with prospective Personal Assistants/micro-enterprises and vice versa. In addition, we cannot and do not give any guarantee as to the suitability of any connections made in relation to this website.

6. Kent County Council’s Responsibilities

Kent County Council will respect your information and will comply with all applicable data protection legislation in force in England and Wales. In order to maintain the integrity of this website, Kent County Council reserve the right to forward your contact details to any regulatory authorities when requested to do so, including the police. By registering your details with Kent PA Web you are consenting to the website using your personal information to provide the service and facilitate introductions between employers and prospective employees. This is further outlined in the Privacy Notice.

Kent County Council are not accrediting or recommending any of the products, companies individuals or organisations listed on this website. Kent County Council do not have any contractual relationship with any of the providers listed on these pages in relation to any of the services provided and cannot be held responsible for any errors omissions or acts of any of the providers which cause loss or damage.

7. Your Responsibilities

You are responsible for any information that you give which must be specific and relate to your current needs, situation and requirements. You agree that you are solely responsible for ensuring the suitability of candidates for the vacancy you are advertising or the job you are applying for.

Users of this service are recommended to undertake face to face interviews with prospective employees, take steps to verify previous employments and qualifications, take up character and work references, undertake a DBS check and other actions you consider necessary to confirm the integrity of a candidate or the person you are applying to for a job. Information in regards to recruitment can be found on the Information for Personal Assistants and Information for employers pages.

 

You agree that you should keep your profiles/messages anonymous, that the information you choose to disclose within your messages on the system is at your discretion and that these messages must not contain offensive content.

You also agree that age, gender or ethnicity data or any other such information provided by an applicant will not be used in any employment-related decision you make. However, this is your responsibility and Kent County Council accept no responsibility or liability for the placing of a candidate.

8. Personal Assistant/micro-enterprise Profiles & Messages

All contents of Personal Assistants’/Micro-enterprises’ profiles are subject to approval. We reserve the right, in our sole discretion, to reject or remove any Personal Assistant or Micro-enterprise profile or account at any time if we believe, in good faith, it fails to conform to applicable laws and regulations, our policies or the public interest.

Employer messages are not subject to approval, however we reserve the right, in our sole discretion, to remove any employer’s message or account at any time if we believe, in good faith, it fails to conform to applicable laws and regulations, our policies or the public interest.

It is the employer’s responsibility to ensure that no personal details are included in their messages. Kent County Council nor PPL will be responsible for any personal details being included by the employer in their message.

We reserve the right to archive, suspend or remove any Personal Assistant’s/micro-enterprise’s profile or employer’s message that we consider to be a problem or causing in the event of any complaint raised by you or upon receipt from a third party of any relevant information.

Kent County Council have cause for concern about an individual who is using Kent PA Web they will follow a procedure and request that PPL remove the individual’s details.  This decision lies with the Council.

Kent County Council will not have administrative access to the website and therefore will not be able to see any of your Personal Data. If an individual causes concern it is at this point Kent County Council will be given the name of the individual and contact details by PPL.

Kent County Council have the right to amend or remove any text, graphics or URL links within any Personal Assistant/micro-enterprise profile or employer’s message. Kent County Council may archive the accounts of people who have not used the service for a period of six months or more (as calculated by the date of last activity on the service).

10. Service Access

While Kent County Council and PPL will endeavour to ensure the availability of this website, we do not guarantee that it will be uninterrupted or error free. In addition, access to this website may be suspended temporarily and without notice in the case of system failure, maintenance, and repair or for reasons beyond our control.

If the contract between PPL and Kent County Council is terminated and the data is to be transferred to a new a provider, individuals will be notified that this happening.  Individuals will have the opportunity to opt out of this if they wish to.

11. Workforce Planning

Data that individuals provide may be used for work force planning purposes.  For example Kent County Council may need information about how many Personal Assistants are working in a certain council ward. This data will be provided to Kent County Council in an anonymous format so that individuals cannot be identified.

12. Commercial Use

No one may use the services offered through this website or the website itself for illegal and/or unauthorised uses. Any such action will be investigated, and appropriate legal action may be taken, including without limitation, civil, criminal, and injunctive remedies.

13. Exclusion of Liability

Except where expressly provided in law Kent County Council or PPL shall be under no liability whatsoever to users of the site and its services or any third party for any defect in, failure of, or unsuitability or unfitness for any purpose of this website or the services offered by Kent County Council through the Kent PA Web or third party equipment or software used to access the web site or for infringement of rights or any other cause.

14. Law

These terms and conditions and your use of the services offered through this website shall be governed by English law and the parties shall submit to the non-exclusive jurisdiction of the English Courts. If any provision of these terms and conditions is held invalid, the remaining provisions shall continue in full force and effect. The headings are for convenience only and shall have no effect on interpretation.

We hope that you find the Kent PA Web a useful resource, however if you have any questions or queries do please Contact Us.