To go back to work as a Care Assistant?

[Greedyangrywasps]

Domiciliary care.
I've got a degree and a teaching qualification, graduated around 12 years ago. I did use my degree and qualification for around 11 years, I'm in an office job atm that is making me sick with anxiety. I feel sick every evening atm and looking to leave. It's paid under 30k for 37 with no overtime available, so not even that high.

I've been offered a job as a full-time domiciliary carer. I'd have to do 44 hours to earn what I earn in the office, but it'd be worth it. I also have the option of an hour of two of tutoring a week to supplement it.
It'll be 4 weekly pay too which I prefer.
I've had comments in the past about how I'm wasting my qualifications and why don't I get a full-time reaching role. People have actually been quite rude about the role.. I totally understand why a lot of people don't want to do it, but I honestly never enjoyed a job as much as I enjoyed being a carer.
Sure it has its downsides and I need to be firm about saying no to overtime, but otherwise I like the job and found it very rewarding. I know I shouldn't care what people think, does it sound like I'm 'wasting' my education if I go for it?

Full time teaching role * I meant

There's A LOT to be said for having a job you love! Not many people get to say it. Do what makes you happy 😊

Don’t think anyone can tell you which decision is right but things to consider with Dom care-
~lots of companies only pay for active call time so not if you have a gap or travel time
~ you need to change your car insurance
~ wear n tear on your car
~ long days as they usually have a 1-2 hour period in the day where shifts hand over so unless you are mainly doing sit ins you fall into an AM / PM shift

but if you love the job then that outweighs all the cons in my opinion

At the moment I’d say avoid teaching like the plague. Do what makes you happy

I think it’s great that you want to work as a carer. It is such a rewarding job.
You appear to have done some caring work in the past, therefore you are not going in to the profession where you have no experience. I wish you every success in your new career.

When were you last In the role?

Do it. Become a trainer. Teach it. Your love for the role will shine through!

I loved the job as a carer but hated the office and its every employee. They were causing me so much grief with their ridiculous allocations and constant calling in my days off that I had to pack it in. At one point me and my colleague were literally driving to the opposite sides of the city for 40 minutes to start our shift. She was visiting a person three doors down from where I lived and I was seeing someone a couple of streets away from her house. This went on for weeks despite us begging the office to arrange something more sensible. It's almost like they went out of their way to make things awkward.
You also only get paid for contact hours. And it won't be unusual to have 30+ minutes of unpaid travel time between clients. If it weren't for the weekend supplement, I'd be earning below minimum wage. The company is supposed to top it up but to make it actually happen is impossible.
I would consider going residential if you can.

The job itself is wonderful mostly!However 44 in visit hours will be tough because you will have travel time and over runs on top of your 44 core hours you probably won't be properly paid for. Expect split shifts. The other thing that happens to carers is that they loose hours when clients go into hospital or away to visit relatives. So you can go under on hours easily and have gaps in your round where you may have to sit in your car as elderly clients tend to like their times to stay similar. It is the best job in the world but sadly very underpaid. As a previous poster has said residential is better paid.

is it the community aspect of the dom carer role you enjoy? Or the general caring?
personally if it’s a wage you can manage on and the job makes you happy, go for it!
if the hours or making enough calls might be a bit of a struggle (and assuming this is through care companies) have you had a look at what nhs jobs are going in your local trust?
HCA’s might be on the lower end of the pay scale but if you enjoy ward work you can bulk up pay with night and weekend shifts. There may be community HCA posts or outpatient ones you’d enjoy. There’s usually the option of picking up extra bank shifts on the wards.
unsure about NHS elsewhere, but I believe most offer greater job security (redeployment rather than redundancy) and many offer in post nurse training if you fancied qualifying by giving day release to uni and still receiving your full wage

Thank you everyone.. I don't drive but the routes are all very close to my home luckily.
Before accepting I'll be careful about their terms and conditions, when I did it previously the last company tried to heckle me into doing a lot of overtime so I know I'll need to be firm.

Thank you for the encouragement.

If you don’t drive then in all honesty dom care would be a nightmare. Before you start they will say it will be fine, routes will be close etc but the reality will be far different.
they will not factor in time waiting for a bus, if a call over runs you will be late and you have to play catch up all day, calls won’t always be close together and in bus route order, calls get cancelled and moved at short notice.

working in a residential home would probably be better suited

You don’t drive? That is going to be tricky

how long ago were you in this role op?

Go for it! Social care needs people like you who care and want to do it. I hate how society looks down on people for doing very important and much needed job roles. Stuff them!

If you can make it work for you logistically and financially, then I say go for it. As a PP said, care work should be done by those who really want to do it and who have a flair for it. All too often now, elderly and vulnerable people are being sent carers who have very little English, or elderly women are being sent male carers when they don't want that. I find that sad and unacceptable.

44 in visit hours as a walker would be seriously hard to do physically. Obviously it depends on the length of your calls but if they are short say 30 to 45 minute calls just how far will you be walking in one day? There may be many opportunities in your area for caring roles that are not just domiciliary. There may be companies that provide supported living. They often have jobs available as they provide 24/7 support. It's worth a quick google as they are usually desperate for staff.

In answer to your question OP, no you are not wasting your education. You have put it to good use for 11 years, but during that time a lot has changed, and teaching isn't the career it once was. Plus, you have said that you can also do a few hours of tutoring, hence will still be using your qualifications, albeit in a more limited way perhaps.

You obviously feel that you have something to offer as a 'caring professional' so if you feel that the job will actually live up to what they are telling you, then I think it's great that you want to do it, as so many people just really don't want to do this work. I also think that when you are in the position where you need help, being cared for by someone who really DOES care, rather than doing it because it's the only job they can get, must mean an awful lot.

If you enjoy working in care, what about looking for a HCA role in the NHS? Community and hospital roles available. The package would be better overall I expect when you factor in leave, sick pay, development opportunities. You could look to go on to qualify as a nurse at some point then?