To think an adult nanny service would be a great idea

[GoldfishParade]

Hear me out. When I was suffering epic panic attacks and moving into my own flat after a nervous breakdown, I would have loved to be able to call and hire out someone as a kind of "babysitter" in the evenings when my panic attacks would get the worst. You cant always ask friends to stay over, they have shit they need to be getting on with. Just someone who would have watched telly or read or whatever whilst I went to sleep

On the relationships board i read so many horrible stories of women who are terrified but need to leave their partners. I just think how great would it be if they could call this service and someone could come around and basically hand hold, help them back a bag, help them get on a bus or whatever.

I'm sure there are loads of other areas where this kind of thing would be really useful (feel free to add if you have ideas).

Do you see where I'm coming from? I just think it would be great and there would be so many uses!

Imagine you're single and really ill. You could hire them to come around, make you some soup, bring you some tea and stuff.

This is partly where friends and family come in, but there are lots of reasons why you might not want to impose on their time. Embarrassment, not wanting to impose, moved to a new area, etc.

Having worked in the care/support industry for 20 years i'd say this is exactly what carers and support workers do. I'm a self employed carer if anyone needs me drop me a PM.

£14 for 30 mins for carers via an agency

Expensive ?

Doesn’t sound like much of a career. More ad-hoc baby-sitting (unlike the sitting service).

Sounds like another way to exploit women.

I think £25 an hour sounds like the standard rate DMOuze

And no I don't think it's expensive, do you?

@ivykaty44 I know loads of mums would love a granny nanny! Have you seen the agency Koru kids? They do things after school only (I don't work for them !)

@GoldfishParade, a private care agency will have pretty much everything mentioned on here within their remit. Companionship, help with household chores, errands outside the home, managing medication, personal care, meal prep, house and pet sitting whilst the client is maybe in hospital etc. I think people don’t realise it’s available because it isn’t framed as it has been here, or unless you’re a particular kind of incapacitated-sick, it’s just not on people’s radar.

At the time it was on my radar, a friend’s wife was running such a company in Edinburgh, and a friend in another part of the country was using the same service as she was immobile following an awful car accident. Her “private carers” made her lunch, let her dog out for a run in the garden, got her medication for her and sat for a bit and kept her company, watching tv or chatting. Occasionally there’d be dishes leftover after her husband went to work and they’d do those, hang the laundry to dry etc.

We have services like that around here - I think they are available, just under different names than you'd expect.

Cadent these services aren't just for women (both workers and users). What an odd comment.

These services are available on a private website mind me for the elderly and disabled.
Not necessarily for people who are struggling with their MH and just want company.

@breatheinskipthegym Interesting, thanks! Yeah I think there's a psychological barrier. You hear "care agency" and think elderly, disabled. And then you would feel a bit embarrassed calling them because you're neither of those things!

niceupthedance

thanks, ill take a look

Something tells me all these people with thoughts of a cosy granny service watching telly while they slept weren’t planning on paying £25ph for it.

Yes @Splodgetastic this is what lady companions do in Agatha Christie novels!

There are still rules like this if you look at The Lady job ads - or there were ten years ago when I last looked!

Roles like this

I get plenty of work Cadent. Including sleep-ins from 11-7 for an anxious lady who just wants someone else in the house.

Yes there are Carers services like this out there. People need to be DBS checked too to go into vulnerable people's homes.

I've been having a very rough time recently and would love to be able to go and live with friends for a while to watch tv with in the evenings rather than be on my own. Although I have lots of friends I don't feel I could do that to them as most are couples or have kids around.

We also had great support from https://www.homeinstead.co.uk and for live in people https://www.country-cousins.co.uk

You could hire a Universal Aunt - they've been doing this sort of thing for nearly 100 years.

@notsuch If you’re fairly paid then I’m happy for you

Its also worth looking at taking in a lodger if you have the space.

If you are really lucky you get somebody who uses your place as a weekday crash pad and goes away at the weekend
a friend does this and its excellent

especially as rental income from a lodger is tax free up to £9000 a year

• a nice way to offset a mortgage

I know my local authority has a webpage of PAs that you arrange a private arrangement with. They are mainly aimed at elderly people, people with disabilities etc but I’m sure you could make an arrangement with one of them as they choose their own clients/hours etc. Most are £10-11 an hour. My family has one for my mother who has dementia and needs more traditional care and one for my brother who is mildly autistic and just needs a male friend to hang out with, play video games, go shopping etc.

I’ll add to link to the page for my local authority: lewisham.gov.uk/myservices/socialcare/adult/personal-assistant-directory-search?sort=title&patype=21667169-d978-40eb-9c50-75e06ba7c78f

It’s bonkers, tbh. I’ve done ‘care work’ that didn’t need a lot of input from me so basically a lot of sitting around watching TV. But paying privately for that would cost a fortune.

Direct payments if someone’s vulnerable means they can employ their own carers, it can be fraught with problems though.

@Blueemeraldagain I find that really sweet re your brother