Has anyone worked as a home carer?

suzy_g

I been for an interview, and I quite like the idea of this type of work as it will be helping people and not in one place, they told me I could outline the hours I will do on a two week rota, as long As i include every other weekend, you get paid an hourly rate and traveling time, they said they have quite times mid afternoon, so maybe not much work then? but I am hopeing I will not have to work too long a day with breaks in the middle just to make up my money to get a minimum wageas i cant afford to take a pay cut, anyway has anyone done this? thanks

dada44

my friend has, around england. she said she quite liked it. the type of job varies a lot depending on who you are caring for. I think that's really a big deciding factor.

Money_maker

I do this but evenings only. It can be early starts with a lot of calls needed to help out of bed / washing / breakfast. Mid morning tends to be shopping, housework type calls. All systems go for lunch calls then a lull as you have been made aware. Tea calls can start 4/5pm and run into bed calls which can go on all evening.

Problem with working all day is that the breaks aren't really long enough to get much done except grab a bite to eat and put your feet up for an hour or so. You need to be very specific about which times you want to work or it can be a long day.

Saying that, it's a great job and you get the satisfaction of making a real difference to peoples lives.

suzy_g

I would like to work between 7am 7pm as I have a problem with late nights as I am a early bird (this is way past my bed time) I have given them a two week rota of hours I would like , but my husband isnt keen he think I will be at tere beck and call at all times and wont be able to turn any requests down .Im going to havve to akk them more questions I think.

cookie54

i do it part time and work school hours and it is hard to fill your day .
The things to think about are petrol cost / driving distance / call times and is the training paid for. Also what are the cost of crb and uniform and when do they need to be paid for.

Do you get a milage allowance . Where i work the 1st 5 miles no allowance then 24p per mile . You are not paid driving time .iIs the are you are working in covered by parking permits if so will they give you one ? You are only paid for the work you do so if a client canx the day before you will have a gap that they may not be able to fill.

It may take time to build up a round so check on that as you may get loads of hours in school hoildays but only a few in term time

suzy_g

They offer £5.90 driving at 30 mph and 40p per mile (not to and from first and last call) but I need garenteed money coming in. so I need to know my afernoons are busy as I only want to work till seven

kingfisherblue

Many home carer positions are zero hour contracts - this means that you are not guaranteed work every week. My daughter is with three agencies and all operate on zero hours contracts - she hasn't found any in our area that offer a guaranteed number of hours each week.

have you considered a nursing home instead? You might be able to work set hours and have a guaranteed wage coming in. My daughter has an interview in a nursing home next week