To wonder why I’m working for £9.20 an hour

[Dragula333]

Care work, it’s chronically poorly paid but I know there are still care companies paying £10/11 an hour.

I have a degree and a Master’s, not that it makes me any better but I just feel I should and could be on a higher wage. It’s an important and very rewarding job, and I do like it but I’m starting to feel like a fool.

So many places pay better, Aldi, Amazon etc.
Would you accept this wage ?

''You do realise that it's perfectly normal for people with masters degrees to be in badly paid jobs? I work in a shop for £9.50 per hour, and every member of staff under 50 has a postgraduate degree apart from the summer temps who are students''

THIS!! I'm so shocked at the number of people saying 'well just look for a better paying job'. That's all very well, but someone has to care for our elderly and disabled while we all work 40+ hours a week to contribute to the holy GDP. Would you rather those people be educated, dedicated and well paid or overworked, underpaid, under-appreciated and desperate to find other work?
Can't help but think the reason behind the shocking pay is because it's 'women's work'

A little off-subject, but it’s so worrying that Carers earn so little for such an important job

@Bellyups

A little off-subject, but it’s so worrying that Carers earn so little for such an important job

Yes, and it's a good reason why Care Homes should be public not private sector. The money for Care should be spent on the people.

I did agency care I've worked all over I'm now a student nurse . I think private care homes, working with the elderly is the worst money for the hardest amount of work. Your staffing ratios are painfully low , if you can look for an agency you can do a 1:1 shift in a nursing for around £13 per hour. Learning disability supported living is also much better you will be paid the same less likely to put your back out and you get to go on fun trips out.
Even forensic mental health is much easier physically than an elderly care home it's all down to the low staffing look at specialist units for work.

Carer here...temporary before I stsrt my nhs role. Mind you, I calculated that from my graduate starting salary and it's £14 ph for a highly technical role yet caring role. ( radiography)which i trained 3 years for.
Im getting 10.50 for caring through an agency op.

The best paid jobs are banking, drug dealing and arms dealing!

To me, someone of a certain age with a degree and a masters = has never done a days work in their life. The eternal student.

Graduates are 10 a penny, companies want people with experience.

And although you say you are well suited to the work, clearly you aren't as it is a vocation.

Have you thought about being a personal assistant for a disabled adult or child? The job entails more than the stuff you do as a carer, you would help with everything including enabling the client to have a social life, taking them to appointments, helping with shopping cleaning & cooking, you become a friend as well.

I’ve sent you a PM

I've been working in care for the last few months (tbf it was only ever going to be something to keep the bills paid until I found something else I wanted to do)
For minimum wage I deal with medication (ordering and giving it), finances, cooking, cleaning (a lot of cleaning!) and if that wasn't enough we are mentally and physically abused by the people we care for on a daily basis. When I hear people talking about what a rewarding job it is I shrivel inside, I don't consider a job where I am barely paid enough to keep my family fed rewarding.
The other problem with care work is that it is almost expected that you are prepared to give your life up to be available for work (you need to have epically strong boundaries not to do this as the guilt trips management pull are unbelievable) so for example I was asked to go into work, I told management I couldn't as I was out that day with family, it was actually suggested that I call everyone and rearrange my plans for a more suitable date! It was already suitable as it was my scheduled day off but that is the mentality.
Anyway, I could go on (and on) about the ridiculous state of social care but as of next month I will be leaving and starting my role as a Sales Executive, I won't lie, I'm not going to miss anything about this job.

I earn £9.50 an hour. I'm not educated past GCSE level and my job is a piece of piss and very flexible. I'm happy with that wage considering the nature of the job and my lack of qualifications.

Carers are chronically underpaid, I think £9.20ph for that type of work is shocking.

I have just resigned from my job as an Outreach support worker for vulnerable deaf adults. I was a keyworker for 5 people. The job involved driving around 400 miles a week as the company was the only service available in the whole of the region. I worked 1 day in the office which was the only time I had to update reports, deal with social workers, etc. I also worked every other weekend and every Bank Holiday. For all that stress and responsibility I was paid £8.91 an hour. When I handed in my notice the manager took me aside and asked if I would stay if I was paid more. I said I would so they offered me £9.00 an increase of 9p. Next week I start work in a factory watching a machine. It's going to be boring but for that boring job, with no responsibility I am going to be paid £10.61 an hour.
I loved my job and felt incredibly guilty about leaving those people that needed support, but just loving the job is not enough. I need to pay bills, I need to eat and I need some sort of social life. My contracted hours were 40 a week but most weeks I would be working between 45 -50 with no pay for the hours over, we could take TOIL but being so short staffed it was impossible to do that as there was no cover available.
Until the social care sector is seen by the "powers that be" as a job and not just something that people (mainly women), do because they "enjoy helping others" then it will never change. People want carers to be paid more and treated better, but you have have to look at the reaction to the NI increases to see that when it comes down to it they don't want it that much.

@eekbumbler

To me, someone of a certain age with a degree and a masters = has never done a days work in their life. The eternal student.

Graduates are 10 a penny, companies want people with experience.

And although you say you are well suited to the work, clearly you aren't as it is a vocation.

It’s not a bloody “vocation” it’s a job!! A job that should be much more highly valued by society than it is. People who insinuate that if caters, nurses etc.. are unhappy with their wages then they shouldn’t be in the job, are a massive part of the problem.

@Pythonista

Why not move to a better paying job then?

This.

I don't really understand.

Slightly odd question but is their a world where carers are directly employed by families/elderly people? I’ve experience of LA carers for elderly relatives but they change all the time and there were a fair few who just wanted any job rather than having a calling or feeling satisfied by the work - and it showed.

If I could have peace of mind about who is taking care of my loved ones then I’d pay someone directly to do that and more than £9.20. Is there a reason why people can’t do that eg do you need to be registered/ regulated etc?

Please change jobs if you can. Someone is profiting off your work (if it is private care not the NHS).

I don't know anyone with a degree who ever applied for jobs as carers or supermarket staff (shelf-stacking, I mean. Obviously the CTO of Tesco has a degree).
Why would you do that?
If you have opportunities and want to care, then a medical or nursing degree would be the obvious choice.

I'm a nurse in a residential rehabilitation and treatment trauma informed service for women who have experienced significant childhood trauma and present with severe self harming and suicidal behaviours.
Our support workers deliver lots of the interventions for the these women, are highly trained ( all hold level 3, 4 or 5 diplomas in care ) and many with psychology and health or social care related degrees.
Work frequently involves managing serious suicide attempts on shift, and completing all the requirements of admin afterwards ( care plans , risk assessments and plans etc.)
Support workers are paid £9.50 an hour.

Hi OP. When you posted recently about salary and rent you got loads of great advice. Have you taken any of than on? As previously said care workers salaries vary massively from organisation to organisation and whether you are in independent of public sector and depending what part of the country you are in. Look into what your local authority and NHS are paying. Every area across the UK are recruiting for carers so plenty of choice and higher salaries and better t&cs to be had. You chose to opt out of an education role where you would earn a much higher salary and your degree and masters would be used. Last post you got lots of good options where you could combine a caring role with education.

And although you say you are well suited to the work, clearly you aren't as it is a vocation

And therein lies the problem. It being a "vocation" does not justify the poor pay. It doesn't matter how well suited anybody is, if they aren't earning enough to pay the bills they will leave. calling it a "vocation" rather than a job (which ultimately that's what it is), just excuses all the crap that care workers have to put up with.

@eekbumbler

To me, someone of a certain age with a degree and a masters = has never done a days work in their life. The eternal student.

Graduates are 10 a penny, companies want people with experience.

And although you say you are well suited to the work, clearly you aren't as it is a vocation.

'Vocation' - word used to excuse poor pay, conditions and treatment of people who do jobs that are essential to society.

It’s your choice to not use the degrees and work in the area you studied for. You then can’t moan when you have accepted a job and it’s terms when that was a choice you made.

Briony123

I don't know anyone with a degree who ever applied for jobs as carers or supermarket staff (shelf-stacking, I mean. Obviously the CTO of Tesco has a degree).
Why would you do that?
If you have opportunities and want to care, then a medical or nursing degree would be the obvious choice.

Really? I work in retail in a large warehouse. There are lots of individuals with degrees who work there. Obviously we have students at the weekends but will leave after uni, but there are also the ones who for one reason or another have degrees and are happy working there.

I work nights as a senior and get over £12 an hour. The next step up for me is a manager role and then that's salaried but works out around 14/15 an hour. It's a lot of stress and work though as we are ridiculously low on staff at the moment and we're having to do the job of 2 people as well as our own bits. I'm currently looking at other jobs including cleaning as its about the same wage for the same if not better pay

Look around for different care agencies.
I work in care and get £10/HR weekdays and £11.50/HR weekends. Double time on bank holidays and Xmas.
We also get our travel time paid and mileage. We are also paid for COVID testing and having the jabs.
No half hour calls - minimum call time is an hour, so less clock watching.

And no uniform, don't miss the polyester tunics at all!

Carers can pretty well pick and choose at the moment. It will only get worse for the agencies taking LA contracts unfortunately.

Ahh this post breaks my heart. I used to do LD support work and I absolutely loved it - so so rewarding. However I had to leave as I couldn’t manage on the money (exactly as you all point out) - I’m now earning substantially more in a boring boring job in the Civil Service.