Country cousins/ live in carer roles

[snowlady4]

Does anyone have experience working as a live in carer, via an agency such as country cousins or similar?
Am interested in hearing experiences of this sort of work.

I have employed live in carers long term, so might be able to help a bit. What sort of thing do you want to know?

Thank you for your reply.
I'm wondering how it is, practically to live in. Do you really 'go off duty,' at clocking off time? Do you take days off or if you're in for a 2 week stay, do you work 14 days in a row?
Are there any benefits to being employed this way?

Our set up was:

2 carers each working two weeks on, two weeks off

they got a 3 hour proper break each day, usually mid afternoon or in the evening. During that time they weren’t expected to be in the house so could go out and were properly off duty .

otherwise no, you don’t exactly “clock off” or go off duty. You are always around in case you might be needed. But you aren’t working solidly. In theory it should work out as roughly an 8 hour working day, but the hours are spread throughout the day and evening not in a block. They would get downtime that they would spend in their room watching tv, reading, on phone with friends etc… throughout the day a few hours here and there basically.

You should be paid extra if you need to do a “waking night” eg if the person you care for is sick and you need to be up a lot.

Our carers preferred the continuity and caring for just one person, rather than travelling around multiple clients in one day or working in a care home. You also can expect your bills and food to be paid for while you are working, so you may save money. The pay can work out better.

You are living in someone else’s home though. Lines can get a bit blurred. You need to be fairly easy going, independent (there isn’t a manager you can turn to, for example) and be able to put boundaries in place so you keep things reasonably professional.

You can take on other work in your two weeks off - either go to another live in client , or pick up shift work.

I'm a care worker. I don't do live-in care, but I know several people who do.

There are umpteen different permutations to live-in care, there really isn't a 'norm'.

Quite frequently, I cover the live-in carers' break times - which is usually 2hrs a day.
So, there will be one carer who resides with the client permanently - but, for two hours a day, she can go to her room, or go out for a walk or whatever - and I just hold the fort while she's not there.

Anybody employing a live-in carer should be able to offer exclusive use of a bedroom with some basic storage, like a chest of drawers for eg.
They should also have access to a bathroom, although not necessarily exclusively.

Live-in carers choose this way of working for a number of reasons - generally speaking, they have no immediate family responsibilities (like children), and they can earn much more than they could in a different setting such as domiciliary care.

As with anything in life, the standard of carer can be wildly variable.
Often, care agencies can source you a live-in carer, carry out all the necessary checks, and deal with all the administration.
They often have a database of live-in carers, so can find you someone at short notice. They can also deal with any issues, so that you don't have to.

Thank you @JockTamsonsBairns @Daffidale
I really appreciate your taking the time to reply.
Interesting and has given me something to think about.