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Original poster

To think care assistant job will fit in well with family life?

85 replies

Livvielo · 22/09/2021 22:51

Posting mainly for traffic…. Is anyone here a care assistant or has been one in the past? I start a new job next week as a care assistant in the community. My hours are x 4 days a week 4pm-10pm and one weekend shift a month 6am-2pm.
The pay is low- £9.50 an hour weekdays, £10.50 an hour weekends (plus fuel allowance.)
It is less than what I get now for my 3 days a week work in a different field, but this job and these hours mean DH and I can be like a tag team- he comes home from work, as I leave for work. So no childcare issues. I tend to go to bed around midnight, so still a couple of hours when I get back from work.
But I’m under no illusion that the job itself is easy. I’m wondering what the reality of care work is like, and if it really does work well around family life. Any tips? Things you wish you had known before you worked in care?
Thanks I’m advance

OP posts:
Original poster
Livvielo · 22/09/2021 23:35

@MorriseysGladioli

I'm a lone working carer for an agency. The trick is to gradually work it round until you are going just to people you click with, and with the hours that suit you. Have a list of excuses at the ready when they phone to ask if you could "just pop" to someone else. It's normal for most agencies to expect you to fund your debts and other bits and bobs. Mine were free, but my rate of pay is less than you.
Have you ever been uncomfortable in a situation alone? Is there a procedure in place for your own safety, like a checking in system on a work phone when you enter and leave a clients house? Obviously I will ask all of this when I start the shadowing, but trying to learn as much as I can. Smile
OP posts:
LukeEvansWife · 22/09/2021 23:35

So you said you had no experience and they were okay with that? Sounds dodgy

Vivana · 22/09/2021 23:36

I was a care assistant through the 1st and 2nd wave of covid and provably wasn't the best time to be a care assistant. I loved the jobs but seeing the residents pass away was very hard. They expect alot from you and always want you to do more and more hours. Stand your ground.
I'm still in care and now a support worker for adults with learning difficulties and I love it. Hard work very bad pay but very rewarding. I'm on bank currently but waiting to start a new SW role nearer to me with no 12 hour shifts and better pay.

GrettaGreen · 22/09/2021 23:38

You won't be handed an invoice if you leave but they will deduct it from your final salary. Lots of people saying this is a red flag but it's been standard across all the companies I've worked with.

The interview sounds really awful and would worry me. Everyone's desperate for staff but we still need to make sure they're suitable!!

Most of the agencies I'm aware of including my own provide work phones now to clock in and out with and so they can email/message info to it direct and minimise disrupting people during their time off.

MorriseysGladioli · 22/09/2021 23:39

Ask away.
I have done this work for years and years.
I worked for this agency years ago, left for a permanent role, and then came back to agency work so I can choose my hours (more or less!)
I have declined to go back to support people I am uncomfortable with, and if I feel I am in danger, I can phone the office and they will usually advise to leave.

Original poster
Livvielo · 22/09/2021 23:40

@LukeEvansWife

So you said you had no experience and they were okay with that? Sounds dodgy
That was the only thing I didn’t find too surprising, as I’ve not seen many (if any) care jobs advertised that don’t say ‘no experience needed as training is provided’ or ‘experience desirable but not essential’ etc etc.
OP posts:
Diceychoice · 22/09/2021 23:41

@XenoBitch

I did think that, but wondered if it’s the norm in this type of work. I’ve had to pay for a criminal records check (£56) and pay for my uniform and ID badge (£25) so I really hope I like it. confused

Sorry, even that sounds dodgy. I have volunteered for charities and they always paid for DBS checks, and uniform if relevant.
I trained as an HCP with it funded by NHS and with a bursary too. I left before I finished and did not pay anything back. If I had finished and straight away up and left for New Zealand or something, or went into the private sector... I would not have been expected to pay anything back at all.

Unfortunately, this is very common, some places are offering a first uniform free as a perk 🙄 but in all but one place I've worked I've paid for my own DBS, uniform and ID. That's not to say that this place isn't dodgy, but they're not the only ones by any stretch of the imagination.

OP - keep hold of your DBS certificate, don't let them keep it, also any certificates you earn through training. You need to make sure you've got the right training for administering medications, moving and handling and first aid at the least before you do any of those things. Secondly don't use any equipment (like hoists) unless you have been trained to do so and are comfortable, I'm not sure on the rules in community care now regarding hoisting, but in care homes 2 people must be present, may not apply to care in the home though.
On a practical note, eat before you go, take plenty of fluids with you to keep hydrated and make sure your shoes are comfortable!
Good luck.

XenoBitch · 22/09/2021 23:42

@GrettaGreen

You won't be handed an invoice if you leave but they will deduct it from your final salary. Lots of people saying this is a red flag but it's been standard across all the companies I've worked with.

The interview sounds really awful and would worry me. Everyone's desperate for staff but we still need to make sure they're suitable!!

Most of the agencies I'm aware of including my own provide work phones now to clock in and out with and so they can email/message info to it direct and minimise disrupting people during their time off.

If someone works and is paid for that time, what is this invoice for?
MorriseysGladioli · 22/09/2021 23:43

I have to log in (on my own phone!) on an app.
Each person should have a complete file, which details everything about them - including behaviours, likes, dislikes and triggers.
Try to ensure you have read these (even if it takes up a little bit of your own time, because forewarned is forearmed)

XenoBitch · 22/09/2021 23:43

@LukeEvansWife

So you said you had no experience and they were okay with that? Sounds dodgy
Clean DBS and you are good to go with most care jobs. They don't have people lining up to work for them.
GrettaGreen · 22/09/2021 23:43

@LukeEvansWife

So you said you had no experience and they were okay with that? Sounds dodgy
Again this is standard. It's usually values based recruitment. People can be trained to deal with needs and taught the rules but there's no point having someone educated that doesn't care.
MorriseysGladioli · 22/09/2021 23:48

It is quite bizarre to find yourself in the company of a virtual stranger, who may be challenging, but everyone has to start somewhere.
My 30 odd years of experience still don't give me any insight to an individual, because everyone is different.

GrettaGreen · 22/09/2021 23:49

You WON'T be handed an invoice. Recouping the overall cost of training and time invested is shit but common (and necessary for some with the volume of turnover). Where I work now doesnt do this but it would be covering the money invested in development such as manager's/trainers wages as well as PPE and shadow shifts that weren't any benefit to the company as the person left.

HomeEdRocks18 · 22/09/2021 23:51

Run for the hills. Massive red flags about this company already.

RobertaFirmino · 22/09/2021 23:53

I can't help but think you might be better off looking for a job at a residential/nursing home instead. They are generally crying out for staff and your only initial outlay would be your uniform, which you'd then recoup via tax.

XenoBitch · 22/09/2021 23:56

@RobertaFirmino

I can't help but think you might be better off looking for a job at a residential/nursing home instead. They are generally crying out for staff and your only initial outlay would be your uniform, which you'd then recoup via tax.
This. It seems daft for anyone for no experience in care to be working alone after one week of shadowing. In a residential setting, there will always be other staff.
Diceychoice · 22/09/2021 23:56

@RobertaFirmino

I can't help but think you might be better off looking for a job at a residential/nursing home instead. They are generally crying out for staff and your only initial outlay would be your uniform, which you'd then recoup via tax.
Yes, I was thinking the same thing, as long as it's a larger place with more than one staff in at a time, you can gain more experience working alongside others (if they're good of course) which stands you in better stead for working alone in the community.
Stompythedinosaur · 23/09/2021 00:01

Care work can fit in around family life but there is often a lot of pressure to give more than you want to to the job.

I've never had to pay for uniform or DBS, although I've heard of it before. Are you being paid for travel time? Some care agencies are frankly abusive to their staff, so be careful.

Sotired111 · 23/09/2021 00:11

I did 6 years as care assistant . Paying for ur dbs is normal , u can pay extra 14 and put it on a system where u dont pay again if u move companies . Paying for ur uniform ive never done that and ive worked for 3 care companies. I will say Its very hard demanding job , most shifts u get 15 to half hour to do care in .

Floralnomad · 23/09/2021 00:14

I think the title of your post is misleading, the job only fits with your family life because it covers your need for childcare , 4 days/ nights a week you will barely see your children if they are school age . I worked pt nights as a qualified nurse when my children were young - best of both worlds - no childcare needed as husband home at night and I also got to pick up from school , do dinner etc before work .

XenoBitch · 23/09/2021 00:15

OP is paying for DBS and uniform, and will be given an invoice for something or other if they leave within a year. Zoom training only, and a mere week of shadowing, then off out working alone. So many red flags.

OP, I know the hours are attractive but the rest sounds like an utter disaster. Care homes are crying out for staff too. Have a look at them.

LemonSwan · 23/09/2021 00:17

In my contact, it says if I leave within the first year, I have to pay them a certain amount.

Its not illegal. But dont work there.

I work in care and in one of the companies I worked for it was essentially a scam. They got people to work, do the training, then re-advertise their role and not let past probation.

Then you owe them having worked for free.

I have worked for good companies who pay for everything except the first DBS. At those good companies I have heard of stories of others who have been scammed by the bad companies. Many have even been to court and lost and put on payment plans.

Its criminal ethically, but not legally.

Yummypumpkin · 23/09/2021 00:21

Have you thought about working in a children's home? You could work directly for a company, would never be alone, be working with children, have career progression to management...and each children's home has only 5 to 6 children so you can build relationships with colleagues and the kids?

NotMyCat · 23/09/2021 00:25

I paid for my DBS and yes if you left within a year you had to pay back for training (sliding scale depending when you left)
Definitely don't answer your phone outside your hours unless you want to work!

Iloveabourbon2 · 23/09/2021 00:27

Oh dear OP. I wouldn't do it. If the only reason your doing it as you can be more of a tag team with your DH.

Can you not do your current role but 2 days a week instead? As its more money.

I agree that most places charge for a DBS but paying for your uniform... its doesn't sound d like a good company!