To expect the UK's 1 million unemployed to get a job as a Care Worker?

[SquireOfGreenway]

The number of people unemployed in the UK is just over 1 million - the lowest it's been since the early 1970s. However, we should still surely expect that figure to be even lower.

From next year, it may be much harder for care-providing organisations to recruit European migrants to fill their Care Worker vacancies.

Surely, it is reasonable to expect any UK resident who is unemployed, claiming job-seekers allowance and so far unable to get a job to be required to get a job as a Care Worker? If they don't then they should be sanctioned and lose their state benefits.

I am not just talking about Care Work. I am talking about all minimum-wage and minimum-wage plus jobs that we have been relying on European migrants to fill.

Why not? There will always be maybe a few 100,000s unemployed, as people move from one job to another, etc. But why should there be a million unemployed people if there is a shortage of workers in any industry that does not require any great level of pre-entry qualifications?

Nor have I porcupine, but nonetheless, there is a distinction between people who are willing to do a job because they find the tradeoff between the labour that will be required of them for the wage acceptable and those who aren't. The latter are going to be much more dangerous than the former.

I quite agree that the existing model is also problematic, but that doesn't refute the point that OPs suggestion would make it even more so.

Care work is hard work and those that do it, regardless of nationality , should be respected and paid more than the minimum wage.
I get where you are coming from but by its very nature, care work is vocational and it takes special people to do it well. I wouldnt want someone caring for my mum who was only there because they'd been forced to and were resentful about it as they would be unlikely to do it well. Also it can be a very physically demanding job so not everyone will have the capabilities to do it let alone the emotional ones.
Would you let your DC be cared for by just anyone? The only criteria being they needed a job and had to stop claiming job seekers/ universal credit?

I'd actually want a better system which doesn't penalise the disabled, the unwell (physical and mental), the elderly, the special needs etc but DOES weed out the work shy and people who think the state should pay for them to stay at home and have as many babies as they like.

Well what you have is UC, which does penalise the elderly and disabled, but hey, the days of the C5 person who pops out babies are long gone, so you should sleep well at night.

For those people, I would like mandatory armed forces enrolment (with childcare onsite), where they have to do a 40 hour week learning a trade/ skill for a minimum of 3 years and are only permitted to leave when they have found a full time job and accommodation/ childcare etc that they can afford.

But maybe that's just me..........smile

How fucking insulting to the men and women who serve the country in the forces and risk their lives to do their jobs, making them into nothing more than glorified jailers-cum-babysitters. And how stunningly ignorant. Yeah, sure there's lots of room for on-site childcare on warships and subs and barracks.

You're suggesting workhouses. Victorian bullshit that belongs in history.

Fucking sick.

The interesting thing about that Guardian article is that it mentions not just the 1 million unemployed being targeted for this training but also that the 8 million “economically inactive” can be “encouraged into work”. It seems that everyone is potentially going to be conscripted to fulfil the post-Brexit dream of a white, Anglo-Saxon workforce.

If I thought it wouldnt make life hard for the patients, I think people like YOU should be forced to perform care work, and be forced to take a second job in the evening because it's so badly paid.

Uneployment sounds like it's low. In reality too many people are working and STILL living in poverty.

I'm sure you know this though and just fancied writing a goady, classist post.

Yes, she particularly mentions 'the retired' 'students' and 'those with caring responsibilities'. What could possibly go wrong with that?

Well we are desperately short of Doctors and Nurses. Why not force all the unemployed people to start from where they are now and get all the necessary qualifications to fill these roles too?

Oh wait, not everyone is capable. Just because care work doesn’t always require qualifications, doesn’t mean everyone could do it.

As has been mentioned, good care providers are hugely under valued already, sticking any old bod into the role is madness.

Seems we have two choices
1-let the elderly and vulnerable be careful by people who have no aptitude for the job
Or
2-let the elderly and vulnerable be cared for by.... nobody, no one wants to do it

Ha! I knew it, I just expletive knew it - after the headlines this morning there was definitely going to be at least one punitive protestant work ethic driven post especially designed to identify the bleeding heart lefties who actually give more than two flying expletive rhymes with ducks about people, all people, humanity in general, and I have not been dissappointed.

PPs have explained far more eloquently than I why the OP is full of utter bollocks. So am just coming on to say of course you are being utterly unreasonable, your overly simplistic worldview is beyond reason entirely in fact, and OP you obviously have all the empathy, compassion, common sense of the governments collective belly button lint quota. Did this thread seem like a good idea after three lines of Charlie off the subsidised cistern in the backbenchers rest room perchance?

Wind us up and watch us go eh ? Your scorn and contempt is unbelievable.

I spent 18 months caring for my MIL with Alzheimers before I broke and it became obvious she needed to be in a home with PROFESSIONAL QUALIFIED CARING staff rather than a woman who naively thought how hard can this be? It's hard, the hardest thing I have even had to do. I'm now repeating the process in a slow burn with my own Mum - terminal cancer. The thought of anyone having access to either of them at their most vulnerable and most in need of proper, sincere support because they have been FORCED to makes my blood run cold; and not just for the person requiring care - but who the hell is going to be able to do such an important job with the required degree of commitment when they're constantly worrying about losing it or not getting enough hours to survive because they're on a zero hours contract - and lets not forget employers have the whip hand and that is also increasing.........

I'm actually grateful to you OP for giving me the chance to vent my spleen in a direction where it is thoroughly deserved...... shame on you and anyone else who thinks like you. Just shame on you.

The problem is that a lot of these jobs that need filling in the care system, agriculture and hospitality industries are low paid, seasonal and zero hours contracts. This means that people will constantly be in and out of work, on and off benefits and have no stability and that's why people don't want them and I don't blame them.

But what IS the solution to the problem highlighted by the OP?

1. Throw some fucking money at the care system. The government can afford it despite saying they can't, they just don't want to fund it

1. Pay Carers' Allowance at an actual liveable rate. There are many people who would prefer to care for relatives themselves but can't afford to.

1. While we're on that subject, proper support for carers. Caring can destroy a person physically and mentally.

1. Incentivise employers to give paid short to medium term caring breaks, managed in a similar way to maternity leave, for example if an immediate family member is diagnosed with a terminal illness, so that they can provide care themselves should they so wish

1. An awareness/education campaign to show people what is involved in caring so that they know it absolutely needs to be done right and not just by randoms dragged in from the jobcentre

1. Recognise health and social care as professional vocations. Have schools and sixth forms offer health and social care vocational courses/qualifications for those that want to work in the field. Increase training requirements so people are receiving the level of care they deserve rather than the bare minimum

1. Build warden-monitored social housing, i.e. bungalows, so people in need of care can live as independently as possible and still have support on hand as needed

I have more but need to think them first.

Here we go again.

I cared for my mum but would not consider myself capable of wiping someone else's arse. My SIL thought I could do the job. She bloody wouldn't!

You need to have a car to get around to all your clients. I do not drive. Can't afford to run a car anyway. The carers who took care of mum professionally were not treated well by the company.. The places they were sent to were far apart and some clients need to be hoisted (my mum did). The time for doing this was not factored into. Also feeding her though I of course did this.

Squire you really haven't thought this through have you? Do you really want someone caring for you if you are unfortunate enough to end up in a home, having someone look after you who really does not want to be there and hates the job???

Mum's carers were fantastic, but if you insist that everyone unemployed 'deserves' to do this work it will not end well.

This means that people will constantly be in and out of work, on and off benefits and have no stability and that's why people don't want them and I don't blame them.

Well I don't suppose Squire gives a shit about that...

Care work is a skilled role.

OP would you know how to look after a non verbal teenager with the understanding and safety awareness of a 1 year old and with physical distressed behaviour from many triggers? Do you think just anyone can do that.

I feel that Squire is playing devil's advocate, this is an extremely important issue

OP, are you Priti Patel?

YABVU.

You’re not just being unreasonable you’re being stupid.
Care is a vocation, I’m degree educated with a masters and I do my job because I love it. I could earn more in my field. I get assaulted regularly.
It’s not an easy job, it’s not a job for money.

Honestly if you or a loved one were sick, you’d want someone who wanted to look after them, not someone who had to

I love the comment regarding mandatory armed forces enrolment! So many issues with this.

A weird faux workhouse system that people aren’t allowed to leave? WTF?
Is this to be for middle class children with university places or the working class with no qualifications?
The military excludes people with various medical conditions such as asthma, eczema, mental health issues etc.
Where are the military bases for the hundreds of thousands of people going to come from? Most of them have closed and been demolished for housing or turned into luxury flats.
Who is going to supervise them? The military is short of staff as it is. The military is not a place for people to be dumped into.

You could not be more unreasonable. I worked on care and the standard of work was appalling because the staff didn't want to be there and didn't care about the clients. I did it for two years and came across several assaults, thefts etc against very vulnerable people

Care work is a vocation, those who have the right skills are rare
BUT, rising numbers of people are vulnerable and in need of care, how do we bridge the gap, how do we magic out of thin air people with the right skills and the willingness to do this work?

Would you want just anyone caring for your family/you? Or would you want someone with the right skills/personality traits doing the job? Do you want people who hate the job and have been forced into it or people who love it and it is their vocation? I know what I would prefer.

Making unemployed people get jobs stacking shelves or agricultural work - yes. But care workers? Recipe for disaster.

I agree that not everyone is suited to it but unemployed people certainly shouldn’t immediately discount care work. It’s the attitude of the job centre staff that needs to change tbh because when I was unemployed for 8 months I was told to apply for completely unsuitable jobs....builder 🤦‍♀️Believe me, you wouldn’t want me as a builder! The house would fall down!

If the JC staff were to know who to weed out then maybe they could get a few more suitable people as care workers.

God no.
I work as a mentor to new carers and for every good compassionate one there's another who I wouldn't trust to look after a dog let alone a vulnerable person.
I've seen safeguarding issues, Meds missed, carers just not turning up and those discussing DNRs with the client next to them.
I've even sent them home on the spot before now.
Please don't send us any more of that standard.

Interesting information about the economically inactive here -

commonslibrary.parliament.uk/economy-business/work-incomes/why-are-people-economically-inactive/

While I definitely think that there is scope for getting some into some form of unemployment. For example Saturday jobs are much harder to get these days as employers prefer zero hours and full flexibility.

But lots of those people are occupied, sick or looking after kids or students. Employers will need to change their offering to attract these people back to work.