Am I mad to consider becoming a carer?

[sparkybint]

Do any of you have experience of being a carer for the elderly? I'm 51 and have spent all my working life making money for other people (and have made some good money myself) and am currently in a job where I'm sat behind a computer 8 hours a day. It's like being in prison. I'm a single mum with DD of 9 and fairly comfortable financially. I don't have any excess income currently but have a lovely home with no mortgage and savings of about 10k. I currently earn just over 20k and know that carers are very poorly paid and that the work can be hard but would be prepared to make sacrifices.

Why do I want to do it? Because I really like the elderly (I used to volunteer for Age Concern) and hate the way society treats us when we get old. I do believe I have the empathy needed for the work and would feel so much better getting out of bed in the morning thinking I was doing a job that actually made a difference. So any personal experience/advice would be much appreciated before I seriously start considering how I might progess this.

Wow, what a lovely question to ask. I do a lot of work in social care and anyone who has your motivation to help is welcomed. And particularly appreciated by the people who you would be providing support to.

On a realistic note, the pay is very low particularly if you do not have social care qualifications of experience. You may also find that working in the public sector will be frustratingly bureaucratic.

On a more optimistic not, a proportion of social care is provided by charities and they can be great organisations to work for.

For some roles you will have to pursue further study - your willingness to do this would increase your chances of good long term posts. Most courses are not too long.

Good on you. The world needs more people with your approach.

Go for it!
I am doing a college course in social care and recently got a job working with adults with learning disabilities, I would work with the elderly as well and am hoping for my college placement to be with them.
I love my job, its very rewarding.
A few folk in my class are at least your age and I think its definetly a case of the older the are the better in this kind of work (empathy, life experience etc).
My pay is about £15,000 (pro rata, im part time) and im on the lowest rung.
If you can do without the extra money then I would definetly advise you to go for it.
Best thing i've ever done.

Thank you for your encouraging posts. Lila, how long was it after you started your course that you found work? Is there any guarantee of work whilst you're on a course?
Notso, can you suggest any organisations I might approach?

And I would love to study but need to work also, as I have DD to support!

I run a home care service and we have lots of care staff who have done other work ( including a Doctor of Genetics!) but find this far more rewarding, though sadly not financially. The in house teams in local authorities have the best pay and conditions but some charities and third sector agencies also pay quite well - my staff get around £10 ph (some more, some a little less) at weekends, so it is by no means minimum wage.
All providers will offer full training - so no need to do a course first and you should be paid full rates for the courses in the induction period. If you enjoy the work and train to NVQ3 level you can use this qualilfication to get into social work or nursing if you want to, or work doing assessments for a local authority. With the new developments in personalisation of care and individual budgets you could work independantly once trained and take on your own service users - you can charge around £12 an hour for this. I'd say if it really interests you then give it a go, but do make sure you go to a reputable care provider to train.

I've been a carer in homes, afab residenytial / nursing unit and terrible ones

I would say that working for a decent provider is one of the best things one can do; working for a poor quality one (the worst unit I ever worked on was closed down by SS - albeit ages after I left) can be soul destroying, much as I know that sort of care is rare having witnessed it and failed to do anything to change it I wouod never work in the indutry again

So get some training, research your emloyers V V V carefully and well done, you'll enjoy it I think and its so worthwhile

Very useful advice, thanks. How do you know if a care provider is repuatagle higgle? I actually worked very briefly for one as an administrator and although conditions in the homes weren't too bad, the attitude of the owners was appalling. All about money, money, money and squeezing the carers as much as they could.