To be upset I've paid £66 for nothing?

[holly49582]

I had an interview for a care agency and was accepted but needed to pay for my CRB and uniform (£66) and also attend 3 days training. I wasn't paid for this.

I have received NO work

I'm worried and stressed.

I would phone every day, so that when an opportunity does arise, you're the first person they think of.

Hope something turns up soon.

just keep ringing them, askign for work, until they are as relieved to find work for you as you are!

Mig, I have tried but just keep being told I need recent experience and I don't have it.

I have rang not every day, as to be honest I don't want to be a nuisance, but regularly. I don't think the work is there and I'm not getting it, I think there isn't the work.

Yes, every company I've ever worked for require you to pay for your CRB. Some will take it out of your wages though which is what I feel this company should have done.

It is extremely stressful as we just can't cope financially at the moment and yet in order to do anything, we need to spend money it seems.

I need DBS in my job but I have always had it arranged and paid by the employer. Is it common to have to pay yourself?

If you're a lowly paid care assistant or agency worker, yes :)

It's getting more and more common for prospective employees to have to pay for their own CRBs (orDBS as it's now called).
OP I'm sorry but it sounds like the company has strung you along. As you say they are just starting up, maybe they don't have any clients on their books yet. It was unfair of them to promise you work.

It sounds horrible for you and I hope the work comes soon. However I'd take comfort from the fact that you've had the training at least.

Call them every day and look at offsetting the uniform and DBS check against your tax.

Whereabouts in the country are you OP?

We pay for our employees DBS check and uniform.

We also accept the transferable DBS as a company we don't get a copy of the DBS since the rules changed we have to take a photocopy of the persons original. It's worth paying the additional fees as we will be able to take a good carer on straight away (after induction)

Could you PM me your rough location, we are looking for keen workers :)

I had to pay for my DBS. No uniform because we wear our own 'suitable' clothes. Zero hour contract, only paid for the duration of the call- no travelling time or mileage allowance. I can start work before 7am and get home at 6pm whilst only actually being paid for 3 hours work (one at 7, one at 12 and one at 5!). I am permanently clock watching because I have to get across town to do a call and never actually relax to doing anything at home because I know I have to go out again. I haven't had a mealtime with the children for days.

My clients are lovely and I enjoy the work but when I sat down and worked it out I don't 'really' make minimum wage. I'm seriously considering finding a job in a home, even though I'll hate it!

I'd also ring every day. Then when work does come up you will be likely to get it, if only to stop you ringing!

DancingShoes that is a very shoddy way to treat you. Politicians should be told about this kind of experience for when they are mouthing on about minimum wage jobs, employment, the fine job care workers do etc.

i worked in a home, it was lovely, it all depends on the staff, as in every job.

It looks to me as if this is another way that people without much money get shafted and no-one does anything about it. How dare they make you pay for a uniform for a non-existent job? How can that possibly be right or just? If you don't have enough recent experience to be given a job, how can they insist you buy a uniform?

I would complain to head office, mainly because even if it is a national agency, they might not realise that this particular office is taking money off people with no work, it'll ruin their repuation nationally, and they can't be doing with facing a Watchdog style expose if there's a load of you.

And be a nuicence and call daily, and after another couple of weeks (so 2 months after you forked out!) start saying you'd like your money back as there's been no work for 2 months, how likely is there to be work etc. Start being hard work, they might at least think twice about doing this to someone else if it turns round to bite them.

In the mean time, go back to contacting all other agencies.

Just want to add that I work for an NHS trust and all new employees now have to pay for their own DBS check.

We must be the only people who don't charge staff for the DBS!

I guess I need to keep trying.

I know people mean well with "keep ringing" but if the work isn't there, it isn't, you know?

Hopefully something else will turn up.

This so-called reputable national agency must have known when it signed you up that there was no work in your area. They are taking money from people who can least afford it - I'd be writing to my MP if I were you as I would if I were some other people who've posted here about unfair working practices. I'd also be contacting Watchdog or some other similar programme so that their sharp practices are publicised.

All the companies I've come across do this, it isn't a new thing. It does wind me up that if you're a doctor, nurse or teacher you get your CRB paid for, but if you're a lowly agency worker you don't! But it won't change things I wouldn't have thought. It's so frustrating though. Anyway I am exploring other agencies but as I've said I'm coming against this no recent experience problem.

Would you be breaking your contract if you worked for someone else? Could you put an advert up in local shops?

I know it's hard to stand up for yourself when you're broke Holly, but it's because they know you won't complain or make a fuss that these companies can get away with this sort of thing.
They don't do it to teachers and nurses because they know they wouldn't put up with it.

Where is the next nearest branch of this agency? Is it worth contacting them and mentioning that you're 'all cleared' for work with them so if they have anything right in the border of their area and your branch, you could take it.

Supply teaching agencies do ... don't know about nurses.

I think agencies are a nightmare for this sort of stuff.

Even if there is suddenly work available, surely you shouldn't be given it if you've only had 3 days training? Are you sure that you have done all the mandatory training you need to do before working with clients? I would check with the agency.

Also, the agency should arrange for you to shadow an experienced worker for a few days, then have an experienced worker/senior shadow you for a few days so they can assess whether you are able to do the job correctly before letting you work unsupervised. Otherwise they are putting you and the clients at risk.

Call your local hospital which will have a bank/pool system and you will have tons of work