To think it's really not worth me working for £9.90 an hour

[Rolaskatox]

I've been offered a role as a Care Assistant in admittedly a very nice home. Also, only doing care whereas many homes also require you to work in the kitchen, laundry etc. As well as doing the care.
However, I've seen that Aldi offer a starting salary of £10.50 an hour. Not saying Aldi is an easy job, but feel like 9.90 is just too low really.

It's not that easy to get the aldi/lidl jobs but care work is notoriously badly paid and you could get £10+ an hour almost anywhere tbh. Are you sure you want to do care work?

Take the care home one while you apply for other jobs including the Aldi one, you might not get the Aldi one, so would be bad to turn a job offer down on a theoretical job.

yanbu. i work at a private baby scan clinic for min wage and often have to tell people they’re having a miscarriage etc. would be less stressful working in aldi for sure

Holiday is statutory minimum. I do housekeeping part time by in a care home at the weekend And it is impossible to get staff. A lot of people come from Sri Lanka under a sponsorship deal where they have to work for the company for two years at minimum wage. They rent flats/ rooms from the owner too. Sort of like indentured servitude.

You can apply for Aldi but don't wait for that make sure you have a job already because honestly aldi is so bloody hard to get into and it is known for it!

I think that's low.

My friend works in dementia care in a care home in East Anglia and she's now getting £11.20ph. She hasn't got an NVQ either (although she has years of experience).

They've had lots of small increases in their hourly rate this year because they have so much trouble getting staff. Even at £11.20, they are having to use staff from agencies that recruit people from overseas, and the agency staff are getting £16 ph.

The only way care could pay more is if they charge more nobody wants to pay what they charge now

Aldi and Lidl pay more but ask anyone who works for them they want there pound of flesh for it

My 17yo gets paid about £10.30 at Tesco.

Is the 5.5 weeks annual leave inclusive of Bank Holidays? If so then that is just the legal minimum for a full-timer. If you get bank hols on top then that is very decent and a big perk.

Yeah and TAs in school get paid even less. And require qualifications. The system is a joke.

They don't just do cutting and sticking these days 😂

You say you haven't actually applied for a job in Aldi so their rate of pay is irrelevant. You could also post saying you've seen jobs in banking offering £100K.
If your question is should you work in the care home for £9.90/hour or not work, then yes you are being unreasonable. Take the job you've been offered, negotiate a higher rate if you want to ask.

I agree care work is definitely underpaid. But I have worked on the peripheries of both and I think I'd prefer the home. Chances to play games, talk with the residents, sit down for some tea, perhaps feel like I'm making more of a difference than shelf stacking and running the till. But a lot comes down to the culture as well and if you are working with more seriously unwell/ confused residents. I've known friends working as carers who have found the home staff itself to be quite bitchy. So not sure I'd apply for shop work unless I was unhappy, even if a little better pay. It's hard to compare from a job advert. I found supermarket work hard personally as mentally it felt very samey and I craved some mental stimulation.

Won't you get a staff discount at Aldi? My friend works at Asda as a picker packer, gets about £11ph plus 10% staff discount on everything except cigarettes, top ups and gift cards. Every now and then Asda announce staff 20% days and thats when she fills her freezer with joints and her drinks shelf with spirits which she doesnt buy any other time. She says the work is hard and physical but she doesnt have to think about anything when she leaves for the day. When she was a careworker she did extra unpaid hours and worried non-stop about some of the residents.

Unfortunately almost all roles that involve care are chronically underpaid.

It's significantly more than £9.90 but as junior doctors we get £14/hr. There have been many incredibly stressful shifts where I've thought I'd be better off in a supermarket (and without the debt). I suppose you just need to consider if this is the career you want and if the positives outweigh the negatives. It's hard work for £9.90, OP, that's for sure.

It sounds like you are really interested in the job, so why not do it for 6 months and then move jobs if you need to.

My job is the best job I’ve ever worked at but the money is awful so reluctantly I have to leave.
But I am very glad I did it as I have got great experience and made some friends for life.
It has also opened other doors which I will be pursuing which are much better paid.

If you want care have you looked if any on local council website you’d get benefits like sick pay, better hols etc.
Aldi and Lidl aren’t easy to get as they pay well.

You don't work in care do you?

Working in hell for Satan himself for peanuts would have better pay, perks and security than care work ATM.

Aldi staff work bloody hard for their money. It's a very physical job that will have you moving heavy boxes all day.
Care work is also very demanding but IME, in a care home environment its a bit slower and you will get the chance for a chat with the residents. It might also be more fulfilling.

There's no point comparing it to the Aldi job unless you have applied for the Aldi job.

Focus on the job you have been offered. Are you willing to do it for that wage or not.

At 9.90 it’s probably a real living wage employer. Wages will go up to 10.90 in April. They will go up in Aldi too as they’ll want to remain a desirable employer.

It’s terrible that a job as important as caring for vulnerable people is paid so poorly. But then many jobs traditionally carried out by women are underpaid aren’t they. What will it take to change this ?

Minimum wage is going up to £10.50 an hour soon.......tbh I'd go for care work over Aldi. Aldi is extremely hard work and full on, they certainly get the extra few pence out of you.

I currently work as a carer in a care home for £9.50 an hour.
it’s going up to £10 this month as a step towards the £10.42 in April.

have seen far easier (but boring to me) jobs advertised for much more.

I went into care for various reasons, but am leaving to work in the ambulance service next year.

it’s hard work, physically and emotionally. But it’s definitely not boring!

for you, you have to choose depending on your future plans really. But yes, it is unreasonable that carers pay is so low.

Remember that the reason Aldi and Lidl pay a decent hourly rate is because they expect a lot from you

It's not like working in Tesco where you can stand around nattering and take two hours to put out one box of pasta

I've worked at Aldi

Take the job you've been offered, you can always quit and go to work for Aldi if they offer you that job later on.