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 ?

@carehomeowner

I have NC. I own a care home. I want to start my confirming that Carers are massively underpaid. However, to assume that it’s all the fault of the care home owners is not true. I own a care home because I love what I do…. Or did before the pandemic. I also cover shifts - night shifts, cleaning, cooking. What ever needs to be done.

What the Local Authority pays me per week for some residents only covers 60percent of my salary bill for all staff. The weekly rates have been increased just 2% over a 5 year period.
I would love to be able to pay more but I can’t. I pay above minimum wage and have no zero hour contracts. But I can’t compete with what some supermarkets pay.

If I am full I make a profit. If I am not full I make a loss. Small privately owned care homes are generally not some money making cash cow. Small care home owners generally work really really hard for minimal profit. They do it, like carers, because they love what they do.

Don’t tar all care home owners with the same brush, we don’t all make massive profits, I work every single day, I’ve never ever worked as hard as I do right now. Like my staff I will be working this weekend, I will be in on Christmas Day. I don’t believe that I can own a business and lead a team if I have not actually done every single job that carers are expected to to.

Local authorities need to have the budgets to be be able to pay for the true cost of care. Then carers can be paid what they deserve. Massive social care reform is required. That costs money and taxes need to be raised (not national insurance) but the majority of the public don’t actually want to pay more and just believe that the cost of care is too high. I can promise you it is not.

Apologies I won’t reply now as I am off to bed…. As I will be caring in the morning.

How much do you pay your carers per hour and how much do you receive per resident per hour, on average if you don’t mind me asking

I left dental nursing when I just couldn’t get above £9.50 an hour after working for nearly 7 years.

I now work at as tech support company that needed no qualifications, just experience with IT/Excel for £7k more a year.

Honestly thought it was so important to get a high degree of education but after my personal experience and thinking about my DD’s future; I won’t be disappointed if she doesn’t go to uni or get HE because the likelihood is she’ll be just fine without it.

I’m really disappointed that I wasted those years of my life so stressed and worn down just trying to get a degree for it to come down to the fact it just doesn’t pay well where I live and I don’t want to make a substantial move to a big city.

So many front line jobs that involve caring for people seem to be poorly paid. Such a shame as this shows, as a society, how little value we place on others.

@Tenfifteen

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?

Yes, we did exactly this. I've posted upthread about it but key to finding the right people quickly was local recommendations. It was vastly better experience each time and we were able to set hour visits at the same time each day, rather than the sketchy 20-30min dash offered by agencies where even that is in a "window" of over 3 hrs.

Yes we tried direct employment (which would of course have meant that the carer was paid much more) but couldn't find anyone suitable who could do the hours we needed.

A degree is no guarantee of a good income - and not everyone is suited to working in the field they got their education in either. I think the whole "everyone can go to university" mantra has actually caused a lot of problems - just because you can, doesn't mean you should.

I went to a top RG university and walk dogs for a living. I previously worked in retail and worked my way up into management. My degree was a total waste of time and money but I was pressured into doing it because of my good grades.

Of course the caring profession should be much better paid but it's so underfunded that I can't see it happening any time soon.

so is your masters a teaching masters? I hear so many teachers say I have a degree and a masters. The teaching licence isn't really a masters, it's a diploma. Much the same as nursing, it really isn't a degree. It's 2 years and then some work experience which anyone with a normal degree is expected to get AFTER their 4 years of unpaid study. Doesn't really matter you are doing shit jobs and not getting into your field, Believe in yourself more. Y

Lots of teachers are doing 60-70 hours a week. When you add up the hours, even taking into account the long holidays, it still only amounts to pay of £11-12 an hour.

The brutal truth is that, when you factor in the crazily priced tiny homes and bad weather, the UK just doesn’t provide that high a quality of life for the majority of people who live there.

You've applied for a low paid job that your over qualified for but are then are confused when you get a low paid job that you're over qualified for?

Yes move on. The ball is in your court

Employers need to increase wages in this market. You have your pick of jobs right now

@hikingforscenery

Carers pay is between 9.30 and 12.50 per hour dependent on experience and level of responsibility. In addition I pay pension, holidays etc

Residents pay on average £4.76 per hour for residential dementia care

I have a relevant degree and 20 years experience. Have just left a private nursery where I was room manager on minimum wage plus 5p an hour.

Some jobs will never pay a salary that reflects the value of what you do sadly.

People saying to get another job. I have applied for loads!

@carehomeowner yes I think there is a lot of misunderstanding about running of a care home, about overheads and local authority funding .

Care work is very physical, not to mention the personal care they do, pay should reflect this.
You are not wrong to be unhappy with the hourly rate, but you are wrong to stick with it. Get applying for other jobs.

£20 an hour isn't a huge amount to pay for a carer. Whilst your pay is £9:20 an hour you have to factor in what you actually cost your employer. First of all you have an entitlement to 5.6 weeks holiday, the company has to pay NIC, pension contributions and fund SSP for staff. There is or should be staff training, admin and overheads.

You can and should check the CQC report on the service you work for to see the rating it has. CQC said yesterday that the shortage of care workers is a tsunami. My main criticism of the current system is that whilst the government imposes laws they don't allow for the correct funding to be put in place. In an area sadly lacking in hospital space our local hospital in Cornwall was shown on the news this morning as having 217 people medically fit to leave the hospital but there was no home care available for them. In Cornwall the high cost of housing is also a significant factor in lack of care staff.

This failure to provide adequate pay is a short sighted policy as it's massively impacting on the NHS services for everyone. Care is a profession so should be paid accordingly.

@carehomeowner

I have NC. I own a care home. I want to start my confirming that Carers are massively underpaid. However, to assume that it’s all the fault of the care home owners is not true. I own a care home because I love what I do…. Or did before the pandemic. I also cover shifts - night shifts, cleaning, cooking. What ever needs to be done.

What the Local Authority pays me per week for some residents only covers 60percent of my salary bill for all staff. The weekly rates have been increased just 2% over a 5 year period.
I would love to be able to pay more but I can’t. I pay above minimum wage and have no zero hour contracts. But I can’t compete with what some supermarkets pay.

If I am full I make a profit. If I am not full I make a loss. Small privately owned care homes are generally not some money making cash cow. Small care home owners generally work really really hard for minimal profit. They do it, like carers, because they love what they do.

Don’t tar all care home owners with the same brush, we don’t all make massive profits, I work every single day, I’ve never ever worked as hard as I do right now. Like my staff I will be working this weekend, I will be in on Christmas Day. I don’t believe that I can own a business and lead a team if I have not actually done every single job that carers are expected to to.

Local authorities need to have the budgets to be be able to pay for the true cost of care. Then carers can be paid what they deserve. Massive social care reform is required. That costs money and taxes need to be raised (not national insurance) but the majority of the public don’t actually want to pay more and just believe that the cost of care is too high. I can promise you it is not.

Apologies I won’t reply now as I am off to bed…. As I will be caring in the morning.

I've worked in small, private homes (do now) and for large, corporate style companies. Without fail, smaller and private homes have kept their staff better and provide much better actual care, though the building is often cobbled together, decor is dated and you do have to make do and mend a lot of the time. The pay and conditions are rubbish, but the actual physical support to staff is better. The larger corporate places are lovely, pretty and shiny, but they're ruthless in running the place at a profit. I saw more humanity in hospitality than I did working for large corporate homes. They are the ones dragging money out of care.

Can you go to a care agency and allocated to where you are needed most? Or go self-employed but you would have extra admin and have to get your own insurance.

Set up a care agency. Pay the carers £13ph so you get to poach and keep the best ones.

This is what I've learnt over the years

Nobody is going to wave a magic wand & find you a perfect job that you will enjoy & with a great salary

It is therefore up to you, to market yourself & look for better opportunities

If you have no dependants, can you work any hours & move location eg abroad ?

I know some people who teach part time & do a totally unrelated second job

Do you have any friends or family, who can introduce you into the company that they work for ? Some companies offer a "refer a friend scheme"

Some people would suggest speaking to a career coach to help you think "outside the box"

@eekbumbler "Vocation" is a term bandied about to exploit people's goodwill and get them to accept poor wages and conditions. There's no such thing as a vocation, there are jobs - for which people should be paid a living wage. They may enjoy their jobs, find them rewarding and enjoy helping people (so, a vocation) but that doesn't change their need to eat and pay bills.

Also, a degree and Masters involve a huge amount of work, how bizarre to claim someone who has these qualifications hasn't done a day's work My Masters was a lot harder than the actual job it trained me for, which after a couple of years I could do with my eyes closed.

To answer the OP...no, I wouldn't work in care for £9.20 an hour unless I was desperate and had no other options. I think I remember one of your other threads about a similar thing...you said you struggled with the behaviour management of teaching, if I remember right. I don't know how long ago you graduated but could you apply for generic graduate schemes, the ones where they accept any degree? They usually lead to some sort of management position and are well paid. There's good money to be made in sales too, if you've got the personality for it. Retail too...the Aldi near me was advertising for store managers, £35k salary.

@AngelDelight28 most of your post is great advice. But why would OP get a job as a store manager at ALDI. She has no understanding of retail or management. Running a supermarket is a skilled job, hence the pay level.

[quote Porcupineintherough]@Zotter I will ask her but I expect you are right. We did try and employ someone direct at first but couldn't find anyone suitable. He only needs 5x 1 hour a week at this point which I guess isnt a very attractive package of work.[/quote]
@Porcupineintherough, understand about the hours and difficulty ,finding someone suitable.

I haven't got a comment to make on the wage sorry but just want to say if you like your job and care well for these people then carry on but find a company that pays better! Sadly their are a lot of horrible carers out their and people like yourself are rare :(

@Tenfifteen

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?

I employ someone directly through the council’s direct payments scheme which I financially contribute to. They helped me with recruitment. One carer has been with me for 14 years. Suits me much more than agency.