got a job as a care worker, cant get insured for business use and stressed about it!

emg

Charlie1986 wrote: »

Care work with an agency is normally long hours and most probably you will have a zero hour contract? - Have you tried local government or NHS, although I don't know if they will be recruiting with all the cut backs happening at the moment.

The NHS require you to have insurance for business use if you are using your car to visit patients in their own homes or at different venues (e.g. different clinics, care homes, etc).

patman99

Buy a small van and insure that. As vans are commercial vehicles, the insurance is cheaper than a car of the same size and will be for business use anyway (you cannot insure a commercial vehicle for 'social, domestic and commuting').

ILW

Many insurance companies will only cover the main driver (policyholder) for business use. Just get a policy in your own name with OH as a named driver.

gujigurl22

persa wrote: »

Finding any job is an achievement in itself in this climate and the OP should be congratulated, rather than sneered at. Secondly, care work is a very important job - it takes a special kind of person to take on such a demanding role that often doesn't result in a lot of thanks.

OP, when is your car insurance up for renewal? Is it possible to cancel it/are Tesco actually going to cancel it on the basis of the phone call you made? Another insurer might be more helpful?

got 3months left on insurance and yes they did say to cancel even tho i am not a policy holder and a named driver talking to the advisor and then when my sis called them up they said its been cancelled but sorted that out after she spoke clearly. i do want the job but the manager hasnt explained to me about use of public transport etc and 1 other thing is i'd like to get paid for full time not getting told to run around like a rat and only get hours when they have some, which i was told could be 16 to 20 hours a week or none at all for a few months!

i've just got a gut feeling not to work for that company im just being put off by ither workers insight to working with them and how they are treated, im hoping id get a refund on the uniform as i paid £40 towards crb and uniform

Savvy_Sue

gujigurl22 wrote: »

got 3months left on insurance and yes they did say to cancel even tho i am not a policy holder and a named driver talking to the advisor and then when my sis called them up they said its been cancelled but sorted that out after she spoke clearly. i do want the job but the manager hasnt explained to me about use of public transport etc

There are some jobs where having use of a car is seen as 'essential', and others where it's seen as 'desirable'. Where it's desirable, then employers should be clear about why, and how those without use of a car can do the job.

However, there's also some responsibility on you to check why use of a car is 'desirable' if you don't have your own car.

Also if you are planning to use a car for work, you do need to seriously consider getting the insurance in your own name as the main driver.

Just a thought, but would a bike get you from a to b fast enough?

gujigurl22 wrote: »

and 1 other thing is i'd like to get paid for full time not getting told to run around like a rat and only get hours when they have some, which i was told could be 16 to 20 hours a week or none at all for a few months!

welcome to the world of care ... sorry, but that's the way it is. Some agencies are better than others, but all are working to very very tight margins, and all seem to offer zero hours contracts. And inevitably they will give preference to workers who've been with them for longer, who they know are reliable: I'm not saying you wouldn't be, but they don't know it yet, do they?

gujigurl22 wrote: »

im hoping id get a refund on the uniform as i paid £40 towards crb and uniform

I'd be very surprised if you got anything back. Have a careful read of anything they've given you already: you might find they refund the cost of your CRB when you've been there some time, but if they insist on you paying up front for it, I wouldn't hold your breath.

Charlie1986

If you want regular contracted hours and to not be rushing around all the time then i'd consider a job other than care work. Unfortunately most agencies are just out to make profit and will try and fit as many visits in per day as they possibly can.

gujigurl22

Charlie1986 wrote: »

If you want regular contracted hours and to not be rushing around all the time then i'd consider a job other than care work. Unfortunately most agencies are just out to make profit and will try and fit as many visits in per day as they possibly can.

yeh thats true i suppose, and yeh i was asked to fill my crb online with the manager next to me as i did it on her laptop, and paid £40 towards crb and uniform which i am sure £30 is for crb but i wasnt told, i just thought yeah i got the job and need to fill in everything and i'll be ready. the manager seemed so eager to start me for work but in interview and me going for the training she kept telling me i may not get work all the time or even for months! and after i did training she just kept sayin she wants to get me out there, i sent her an email yesterday asking if public transport can be used as on the job description it mentions having own car/transport is desirable and i have not heard from her at all. i dont know why i cant make a call to her i just feel like i dont want to chat to her anymore

gujigurl22

Savvy_Sue wrote: »

There are some jobs where having use of a car is seen as 'essential', and others where it's seen as 'desirable'. Where it's desirable, then employers should be clear about why, and how those without use of a car can do the job.

However, there's also some responsibility on you to check why use of a car is 'desirable' if you don't have your own car.

Also if you are planning to use a car for work, you do need to seriously consider getting the insurance in your own name as the main driver.

Just a thought, but would a bike get you from a to b fast enough?

welcome to the world of care ... sorry, but that's the way it is. Some agencies are better than others, but all are working to very very tight margins, and all seem to offer zero hours contracts. And inevitably they will give preference to workers who've been with them for longer, who they know are reliable: I'm not saying you wouldn't be, but they don't know it yet, do they?

I'd be very surprised if you got anything back. Have a careful read of anything they've given you already: you might find they refund the cost of your CRB when you've been there some time, but if they insist on you paying up front for it, I wouldn't hold your breath.

i wasnt given much by the manager apart from the job description and a formal interview where she wasnt even prepared for herself!
but when i went to the training a new worker from the same company but a different franchise in another area told me she was given a letter of some sort which said if she was to quit she would have to pay the cost of the training which was free for us, but i never got this letter, so im thinking this manager of mine has not really explained everything to me well

Savvy_Sue

Trying to piece together your latest posts, I would think that the manager can't 'get you out there' before she's had your CRB check back, AND received satisfactory references, AND you've done all the essential basic training.

So there will be a wait before you get any hours. IF there are any jobs which require two carers to attend, she MIGHT be able to send you with someone, but there might be a policy of not sending anyone out before that check has come back.

I don't know why you can't pick up the phone and talk to her either: if I have a call to make which I think might be difficult I usually work out what I need to say and jot down the main points. I'm not always sure what you mean / what you said / what she said, so working out what your questions are might be a good starting point.

For example: "I have tried very hard, but I haven't been able to arrange business insurance on my car immediately, the insurance runs for another 3 months so I hope I will be able to get it in place then. Will there be any work for me if I don't have use of a car?"

"Is there anything else which you need from me before you can start to give me hours?" is another good one. That means she can say "we are still waiting for your CRB / references" or "I still need you to fill in some forms" or "can you confirm ..." or whatever.

BTW, I think the CRB is £36, plus there is sometimes an admin fee on top of that, so your uniform is really cheap ... Also it's quite common to have a clause saying that you'll have to repay the costs of any training if you leave within a certain period. And you can understand why: if a course is less than £50 it's extremely cheap (unless it's in-house training, and even then there are costs involved), so if you send someone on 3 or 4 training courses before they start, and then they walk out after 3 weeks, it gets expensive! PLUS, you've got the training behind you, a new employer might think "oh good, we've got this person ready trained", at the original employer's expense.

Racheldevon

I'm with Tesco - and have been able to add business use part way through with no additional cost, my partner is the second driver and he too has been added as business use - again no cost