Loss of EU care staff being replaced by unemployed

[Justpassingtime1]

The Government has stated there should be no problem replacing
departing EU care staff with the many now unemployed Brits.
There is no question that the EU ones are leaving .The issue is whether
it will be so easy to get the unemployed to do the work.

Source?

It didn't happen in the last recession - it's always been hard to recruit people into care work even in times of high unemployment.

Most care agencies and care homes I know are running with significant staff shortages currently.

People will often do anything else before they will do care work.

My husband lost his job due to Covid and we are all over job adverts at the moment - haven't seen any of these come up in our area. He would definitely take such a job if offered. Applying and hearing nothing seems to be the default at the moment.

Many people are not suited to care work. Even if they are offered work, for many whose qualifications and experience lie elsewhere, it's likely to be a stop gap until something more appropriate comes up.

It doesn't take into account that not everyone can pass an enhanced DBS check and that a lot of people can't work in care and are unemployed because they have a criminal record

You can imagine that with this Government waiving the requirement to have a DBS check would be one of their bright ideas. After all it's only the old, the sick and the disabled who need care, and we have already seen what the Government thinks of them.

Who in the government said this and where is it reported ?

Care work shodnt be done by people who couldnt get a better job and were worried about benefit sanctions. we will see even more are home scandals if that hapoens and theres enough already.

There are some amazing carers who take their job very seriously, have trained and have the right temprement - thats what we want.

Care workers need to be young, fit, able to drive, willing to work long hard hours.

Many of the long term unemployed in the UK do not meet ANY of those criteria.

My dad’s carers are not all young and they are excellent.

But potentially some of those newly made redundant by Covid might do. But I doubt whether it will plug the gaps.

Carers should be valued far more highly than they currently are. If we did that it may attract more candidates.

I'd be awful at care work, I'm totally unsuited to it. I don't have enough patience or compassion to be able to do it.

Dd is 22 and is taking a cleaning job over care work (lost her hospitality job due to Covid)

She recognises she's overly kind and caring and would find it too hard to leave jobs after 15 minute 'calls' - it would cause her too much stress.

Allow them enough time to do a proper job and pay £12 an hour (£17 in London as that's living wage) and maybe more would do it.

Basically overhaul the care system

@ListeningQuietly

Care workers need to be young, fit, able to drive, willing to work long hard hours.

Many of the long term unemployed in the UK do not meet ANY of those criteria.

Not necessarily

I have a friend in her 60s doing care work, she was long term not working but got into debt

Her fitness is average. She only does jobs within walking distance and totals about 20 hours a week.

I have another crazy fit friend in her 40s doing it but she does other things so limits her hours

If anyone is out of work and feels they are suited, do look - the work is out there for sure.

The only news item I could find on this was an article printed in the Independent last June. It was a suggestion where the unemployed might be encouraged to seek employment in the care sector because of the pandemic. You may want to change your thread title OP because you're making it sound like the unemployed won't have a choice.

Care workers need to be young, fit, able to drive, willing to work long hard hours.

My husband fits all those except young, as he is 60

Care workers need to be young, fit, able to drive, willing to work long hard hours.

^^ certainly helps but not a necessity

I’d like to see people who work in care homes to have a passion for it, and be kind, patient, caring and empathetic. Not just to be there under duress, because otherwise their benefits will be stopped. The people they will care for will be vulnerable, and some may not be in a position to raise the alarm if they’re mistreated. This needs to be properly thought through and monitored.

I really don't like this attitude they seem to have of getting people to do caring jobs because they'll take anything.
Some people shouldn't be let near this kind of job.

One of my former neighbours lasted less than a week in a care home. She was virtually unemployable, but the Job centre insisted...
The elderly people unfortunate enough to encounter her begged not to be left alone with her.
After a volatile few days, she finally lost her temper when someone asked her not to be so rough during washing.
She flung the facecloth at the poor old lady, shouted "Do it your f*ing self!", and stormed out.
I would not have wanted her "caring" for me, either - horrible woman!

I worked in a care home while I was studying and it is not for everyone. First, as they have already said, you need to have the patience of a saint and be caring. You get patients with dementia o behavioural issues which can be very hard to work with 12 hours in a row. Think of listening “nurse, nurse, nurse” for 3 hours non stop. Think about a person following you asking you the same questions. Then there are people who are very particular in the way they like things done (aren’t we all the more we age!) and some of them will tell you in a non very nice manner. Then there is the long hours And management putting pressure on you to cover extra shifts. Working on a rota you never know if you are going to be off Wednesday afternoons for example or doing nights for a few months. your requests to have a particular day/hour off not being granted (which is not great if you want to take your child to a specific activity)... one of my managers used to say: don’t plan your work around your life, our life has to be planned around your work. Then of course it’s a physical job. People moving and handling is not like lifting a heavy box: the box won’t move unexpectedly or push you away or fall all of a sudden on you. Then there is the personal and legal accountability. Loads of standards to comply with (for a very good reason) which can create a bit of stress over who did or did not do this. If you can’t take feedback, stress and fast pacing environment or can’t stand a foreign nurse to give you orders You won’t last long. I can understand why some people prefer to work as a cleaner, it’s a bit more of a lone working job and you can listen to music, think about things, and if things go wrong you might lose your job but at least you won’t go to court for the neglect/abuse/death of a person. And all of this for 9£/hour. Not everyone is cut out for such demanding work.

mumtobe9 Well said. The people who cared for my FIL in an Anchor Home were amazing. Highly skilled they gave him quality of life with dignity in spite of his dementia meaning he could not remember what he had done/asked/ been instructed for more than 5 minutes and yet they found what remained of his cognitive abilities and devised activities that could break him out of the constant cycle of asking to go to the toilet, day and night. Dementia is a neurological illness, you would not send unskilled unmotivated people with no choice, to care for people with any other neurological illness.

The staff were 90% split between EU / non EU. There were very few from the local area and those that were were also exceptionally motivated, skilled and kind.

The people I know who work in care do it in spite of the money not because.

Forcing people into care work would be a fucking disaster. The clue is in the word ‘care’.

Many many young people have lost jobs in hospitality - restaurants, cafes, pubs, hotels. They might well take jobs in care.

Most care work adverts I've seen are for home-visiting, not specialist alzheimers carers working in residential homes.