To think that lots of people don't understand just how many jobs pay minimum wage.

[TravellingSpoon]

And how many jobs they would consider worthy of higher wages do not get them.

I am a support worker, and we were talking about this in our staff room this morning. Many of us have had similar experiences, people who cannot believe how little we get paid, or that we would do it for such a small amount of money. And we get 19p above the current minimum wage. Similarly with a couple of my colleagues who have backgrounds in nursery.

@user149 couldn't agree more, I only do 8 hours a week, how my full time colleagues put up with management nonsense I've no idea

Inaquequefortheloo oh come on stop clutching at straws you know you are on a losing streak here .Ok i will make it a bit more simplistic for you .You have an individual with dementia you needs a shower .It takes skill to assist that person into a shower as you need to engage in a way that takes skill .You have an individual in an autistic meltdown you need to understand why , takes the skills you have built up learning that individual's personality and triggers .I may not have a degree to show those skills but i have them .Bit clearer for you ?

Willow17 thankyou that is a very well thought out and well written post .

CoalTit
Exactly.

I think the point I was trying to make in my previous posts was that when I first started working in the care - my duties as a care assistant/support worker were; personal care, feeding, ect.
I didn't do any of the finances, none of the medication administering or handling, none of the liasing with other professionals or the paperwork. All that was done by the seniors and management and they were paid more to deal with that whilst I was paid just to care.
Now I have to do the role that seniors and management would have done a few years ago, plus more but I am not getting paid any more than what I was, I have not even 'progressed' in my role as I am still seen as a care assistant/support worker. When employers and local authorities are questioned this, the response is normally 'it will look good on your CV, increases your skills for development' but really it is all about profit margins and saving money at the expense of others.
It is obviously not just carers who are feeling this, nurses are also now having to do more, police are having to do more ect.

Thank you😁

Retail is tough too, the place i work i don't think i know anyone who does the bare minimum and dosses it off, as they would soon be sacked. Yesterday i worked a 9 hour shift, and was shattered after it, it may not seem a lot, but that's me unloading deliveries and pulling them to the correct part of the warehouse manually. Taking everything off the delivery cages and organising them to make everyones life easier, each cage weighing at least 50kg of stuff, some reaching 80kg plus. Taking cages and putting the stuff on the shelves and being timed to do it. Helping customers. Having to work checkouts when needed but expected to get all my jobs done as well etc, it doesn't sound like a lot but it's shattering and that's not even my normal job I'm trained for. I'm trained in managing the stock and solving stock issues for a large supermarket without any input from pther managers. I can fuck up the ordering and make every shelf empty in the whole supermarket but they still pay me £9 hour which is only because minimum wage is going to rise

Retail work constantly changing hours to be able to keep afloat, I'm lucky I've a guaranteed 16 hours a week with 9 of them on a sunday so i get a bit extra for sundays but then i do 2 evening shifts of 5 til half 9. How can anyone survive on that? So i have to go around departments and hunt for overtime to actually earn a decent wage to live on.

I used to teach at university. My name tag said Dr Silver and I’d be lecturing to a class of between 30 and 100 students paying £9k each. Which makes it all the more shocking that they paid me a tenner per hour, term time only, with no sick pay or other benefits. The students simply didn’t appreciate what a low paid job it was, because it was so specialised and highly qualified.

bit clearer for you?
No Hearthsideit is not. Of course they are specialised skills for your job. But they are not considered skills that most people aren’t able to learn on the job without a certain level of training. Hence why care is considered low skilled.

That's dreadful Silver

SilverChime
That is just shocking.

Oh piffle.
Having the mindset to want to.understsnd your residents, to be able to work under very stressful conditions, to be able to deflect aggression because you know why that person is being aggressive. The difference between if the agression has always been their personality or is it due to fear or confusion is a skill that takes experience and commitment to your residents. It's not something you can learn in a couple of days training it takes time to get to know a person.

Being able to adapt to each individual, to be able to provide care no matter how hard it is is a skill.
Skills aren't just bits of paper. They are real life experiences and no amount of paper will compensate if you don't have insight, empathy and commitment to the people you care for.
Being able to relate to all kinds of people, residents, relatives, other health care professionals and build a relationship with them in often difficult circumstances is a good skill to have.
Many dementia care settings now only have a skeleton nursing staff and are run by highly respected care staff due to cutbacks and local authorities using these amazing carers as cost cutting exercises.

Do not tell me that they aren't skilled.

I work for a well-known fast food/takeaway place on min wage, shift managers earn about 30p per hour more than minimum wage- it’s not worth the extra stress and responsibilities.

Also, if I had a £ for everyone who has ever said to be 'I couldn't do your job' I wouldn't need to worry about the minimum wage at all.

It takes a certain type of person with a certain type of skill set to manage in a care job, and that cannot be taught.

I don’t think many of these professions should be marked as unskilled. You do in fact require many skills, just not the kind that you learn through higher education.

Care for example, doesn’t require you to have any specific qualifications, anyone can apply and be appointed. However you would be very surprised at how few people can actually do it well. It takes many skills and personal attributes to be a good carer, many many people just can’t cut it.

With domiciliary care in particular. So much is on your shoulders when you’re out on your own. You’re handing out controlled drugs that you’d have to be a trained nurse to touch in a hospital. You never know what you’re going to walk into. You often have to make the call as to whether that person needs medical attention. When I worked in care I’ve watched several people have strokes in front of me, I’ve walked in on people who have overdosed on their meds, had serious falls, unresponsive people, and so much more. You have to deal with that situation. Obviously you get medical help, but until it arrives you’re on your own. I have been subjected to inappropriate sexual attention, you’re very vulnerable when you’re on your own out there. It’s not all helping nice old ladies get washed and dressed.

And you do it all for just a few pence over minimum wage.

I now work for the nhs is a different, but not completely removed role, that you need relevant qualifications for. I earn a fair bit more, but I feel I have less responsibility on my shoulders than when I worked in home care.

inaquequefortheloo you are being deliberately goady but no worries i have done plenty of training in challenging behaviour so i have the skills to deal with it .So keep telling yourself you are right far be it from be to burst your bubble .

Couldn't agree more: there was a poster on here the other day that said minimum wage full time must earn £2000 post tax. How bloody naive is that?

I know i dont have a degree but by heck i am more than qualified in my job.

I love what i do and making a difference to people's lives. Helping them to the very end of their life.

Caterpillarsruletheworld you are so right . Over the years i have worked with people who you know don't have the skills for care and they don't last 5 minutes they can't hack it .
I work with an incredible team who go above and beyond and who are extremely skilled and compassionate. It boils my blood to see all amazing fellow care workers called unskilled.

YANBU.
Also agree with the comment about supervisor pay being minimally more. I temporarily stepped up to supervisor and got an extra 70p an hour...just not worth it for the amount of extra work and stress!

No offence @vodkaredbullgirl but everyone is qualified enough to do your job. It’s not exactly selective. Not being goady but whilst it requires you to have some skills they are soft skills hence why it’s thought of as a low skilled job. There are skills and then there are skills tbh. That’s why doctors are relatively well paid because it’s not a job that can be done by just anyone whilst your job is. Whether those people doing care work are actually good at it is another story but the fact is literally anyone can walk in and get into it. It’s not like you’re diagnosing the patients yourself. You are told of their issues and told what medications to give them. The medical training you have simply isn’t comparable to a doctor or a nurse

This is one of the reasons why so many of the wealthy and in power voted for Brexit.

Brexit will bring even less job scrutiny and wage scrutiny. Employment terms can be made even worse. Lots at the top want a move to a more American style of employment, which is no rights for lower level and lower paid workers.

EU regulations have been a protection and these will soon be removed.

Not everyone can walk into a care job, my 19 yr old has tried, she doesnt have the skills or knowledge or experience.

I agree OP.

My background is nursery work, I am qualified to work in the early years to degree standard and the working with babies and young children requires knowledge and skill but as a rule it is a terribly paid area to work in. I was very good at my job and loved working with children but I won’t be returning to work in that area.

Ebonyandivory2

Nobody now a days an easily walk into a care job, they might have been able to before but not now. The only places that would allow this is very poor standard care homes that I wouldn't allow a cat to stay in.
Most decent care companies cannot get the staff now because a lot do not meet the requirements. My company and previous employers have turned down so many interviewees because they do not meet the skills or qualifications to work there.
CQC check employees applications when making visits and will call employers up if they hired someone without the adequate requirements

@Hearthside, I’m not being goady I just do not agree that care work is highly skilled. If you have plenty of training in challenging behaviour and the skills to prove it then you certainly haven’t demonstrated it on this thread; unless becoming aerated and insulting people are the skills you were aiming to display.
@Willow2017 no one is saying they aren’t skilled; they are saying their skill is commensurate with wage offered. This isn’t about how hard you work but how skilled/ qualified you are. You cannot enter certain professions without the requisite qualifications; caring is not one of them. Whether you think it’s piffle or not, employers clearly don’t or they wouldn’t employ people as caters with no experience/ training. Clearly they think such skills are attainable without a high level of training.
@TravellingSpoon if you’d bothered to read my posts you’d see I used to be a carer. I do know what the job involves. Still work in healthcare, much more highly paid as it reflects not only the years of training but the increased responsibility I hold.
@vodkaredbullgirl the only person who appears to have a problem with your lack of degree is yourself; you’re the only one who brings it up.