To think this is bullshit and want everyone to know?

[Fuckbrexit]

I'm a mature NHS student, I needed to pick up some part time work so decided on community care to earn a bit of cash and develop my care skills and manual handling etc. I've worked in the sector before but office based so had some awareness of the job but I'm bloody shocked!

I've been expected to start at 6am minimum, drive miles to pick up double up non driving carer to then double back to drive 15 miles (going past my house) to first call (unpaid travel). Then work all day without a break, literally not even 10 minutes between calls and driving, no travel time at all. I get home close to midnight then have to get up at 5am to start again. All I can eat and drink all day is what I can grab from the back seat and put in my mouth while driving. So near 18 hour days and 200 miles a day driving (for which I get paid for 12 hours max) and 6 hours between shifts.

I only do this at weekends but full time carers do it 5/6 days a week and think it's normal!

How can this be safe for the carers? How can clients be getting decent care when calls are cut short to allow for travel? Am I being naive here or do people in general not know how bloody awful it is?

I don't even know why I'm posting really, I just can't see why this isn't a national scandal!

I'm surprised this was a surprise to you.

Why? Who would expect to work a third of their time unpaid?

It's bloody appalling.

These staff are saving the country a fortune. Many of their clients would be in residential care if it wasn't for domiciliary services and would be costing millions, every week. For this, they are exploited and treated like crap.

Have you signed away your rights under the EU Working Hours Directive, OP? I believe they remain in force until the 1/1/21, unless the transition deal is agreed sooner.

The WHD would at least get you a 20-minute meal break and 11 hours off between shifts.

“ family carers who put in the same level of work as employed carers but for far less money - £66.15 a week for 35hrs care"

And that's ignoring that 35 hours isn't anything like it

it's just not feasible to expect the non driving carer to get there and home under their own steam.
Of course it's not feasible. But surely that's the company's (NHS?) problem, not yours. If they want you to solve it for them, then they need to pay you. The more people who suck it up and just do it, the more they will continue to get away with it.

35hrs at £66.15 is £1.89 an hour, for 24/7 care it works out as 39p an hour. And you can only claim it once, no matter how many people you care for.

Nobody wants to do it so those who do have massive workloads.

Oooh slight derail but please don't get me started on carer's allowance.

I've just looked into getting a couple of hours a week off (I am full time carer for DS 15) and the rate is £12 a hour. So to have 3 hours off would be over half what I get a week.

OP that's all disgraceful, but you should know not all agencies are like that. I'm paid 40p/mile for every single mile plus paid travel time, and my hourly pay is above national minimum wage.

Unfortunately Social Services do not (can not) pay agencies enough to cover the costs of providing care so either corners are cut and staff ripped off or private client fees increase disproportionately to make up the difference.

It is definately not a job you can do well or long unless you love it!

This makes me so angry. My whole lovely leftie family laughed at me naivety when I was shocked at this 20 years ago (elderly relative now passed) I’ve also looked into the finances and you can only pay nmw (forget living wage) for all hours including travel in cities where there’s no congestion and no parking charges. Private companies rely on a ready supply of desperate workers, high turnover and a punitive benefits system, which means women (and it invariably is women) have to take these jobs or be sanctioned. The Unions should be ashamed.

The carer's allowance is a bloody disgrace too, in my hospital placement I see people every day who are on their knees with the care they provide for their loved ones.

Until care is seen as important as banking or software development or any other high responsibility role I can't see things improving. I hate it, I'm retraining at great personal financial detriment because I genuinely care and believe that excellent healthcare should be an absolute right. I used to have a cushy job in marketing. More fool me! Not a single regret though I have to say. I couldn't do full time dom care though and all respect to those who do

OP the agency who come to do my care pay driving time apart other than to your first call and home from your last (or the first/last 10 miles if it’s further than that). But the rest of what they do is an absolute joke.

@sparklywolf I'm glad to hear it! The annoying thing is that the company I've been working for are genuinely far better and more ethical than most, the hourly rate is a couple of quid above NMW and mileage is paid but it just doesn't cover the travel time. Unfortunately we have to choose between being incredibly late and working more than 18 hour days or cutting call times (and getting paid less as it's paid in minutes at calls).

Etinox - why the unions?

It's not even like the company are raking in big bucks by being bastards to their staff, it's just that the money allocated by the council is not enough. And the councils are under increasing pressure to cut costs due to cuts in funding. The most vulnerable are suffering and the lowest paid are bearing the brunt. It's an absolute disgrace

The calls are sometimes 15 miles apart and very rural so it's just not feasible to expect the non driving carer to get there and home under their own steam.

Then the non driving carer isn’t qualified for the job. No way would I agree to do this for an employer and I’m really surprised the employer can insist you do it. Who takes on a community care worker with no means of travel?

If people are being pushed into this work because of benefit sanctions they should just say they can't drive. I would not work these hours. YANBU.

It's not even like the company are raking in big bucks by being bastards to their staff, it's just that the money allocated by the council is not enough. And the councils are under increasing pressure to cut costs due to cuts in funding. The most vulnerable are suffering and the lowest paid are bearing the brunt. It's an absolute disgrace

This is exactly what the country voted for in the last general election. It is nothing to what it will be like after another four years of a Tory government.

@MintyMabel I agree but can see it from the point of view of the employer, they would have to pay us both 25p a mile for the same run, environmentally it's a bit of a nightmare too. I wouldn't mind so much if the other carer would get a cab to and from my home so my day isn't 40-60 mins longer than theirs for no extra cash but it's not the done thing.

Saying you can't drive isn't a barrier, you're expected to commute a certain number of miles by public transport. FIL signs on and his claimant commitment says he has to look for work within a 15 mile radius and cannot turn down work based on distance if it is within those 15 miles.

YANBU- this is how care work goes, this is how it is, but it is shit. I was offered a care work job, but I took one look at the hours, locations etc and just had to confess to myself there was no way I could do it..

At least they have to pay people a bit more now so it doesn't/shouldn't end up under the minimum wage. The picking up another worker from that far away does seem excessive.

I know how disappointing it is, but I wouldn't take this job if I were you. You can find other kinds of work, even some care work for individuals if you look around, that isn't this ridiculous. xxx

The worst thing is when the non driver has single calls on their rota, I think I may get a 30 min break but am then informed that I must drive them to their calls (that I don't get paid for) and if I don't go in and help we will finish even later

I agree but can see it from the point of view of the employer, they would have to pay us both 25p a mile for the same run, environmentally it's a bit of a nightmare too.

If you are going out of your way to pick her up as your OP says, it would be fewer miles if you both drove. More fool you for agreeing to it.

I am very much aware that I'm incredibly privileged here as I'm training for a relatively well paid career (compared to care, not what I was doing before but that's my choice!) and have the luxury of picking and choosing but I'm desperately worried about how sustainable this is for carers and clients long term.

@MintyMabel again agreed, that's why I got another job, the bitterness was driving me mad

Although environmentally, my 200 miles compared to 180 miles plus 190 miles from the other carer is a lot less bad if that makes sense!