Domiciliary Care/Home Help

stephenni1971

I have a colleague who is looking to start a business providing carers to visit elderly/infirm/unwell clients to provide help around the home and with personal hygiene etc.

I have been looking through his business plan and he has referred to a number of franchise type businesses doing the same thing.

I was just curious if anyone on the board has experience either working for or with a company like this or alternatively has used one for themselves or family.

Any comments / advice on the pitfalls or issues on this wold be very welcome.

Maz

I used to work in this industry as a support/care worker. Not sure what sort of comments you're looking for, obviously any observations that I could make would be purely from an employees perspective.

And I could rant for hours about that!

onetomany

im a care worker in peoples homes

marvin

I am the chairman of a third sector company that provides care workers (see this page http://www.bica.org.uk/what.shtml for why you should never refer to paid staff as carers!) we are just diversifying into the home help sector of the market due to a squeeze on income from our traditional dom and residential care.

The problem is not finding the work but the workers that want to do the work.

lincroft1710

marvin wrote: »

The problem is not finding the work but the workers that want to do the work.

With the rates of pay, type of work, impossible time schedules, not paying travelling expenses which some of the less reputable employers practise, are you really that surprised?

martindow

lincroft1710 wrote: »

With the rates of pay, type of work, impossible time schedules, not paying travelling expenses which some of the less reputable employers practise, are you really that surprised?

Absolutely. Even some well known names in this industry treat their staff appallingly. My father's carers are only paid (at low rates) for the times of the calls and are not paid at all for travelling time. This even applied when a diligent carer walked through the snow for 40 minutes to get to my father when driving was impossible.

Good carers should be treasured but, from what they tell me, they are treated despicably and don't seem to be valued at all by their employers.

stephenni1971

Maz wrote: »

I used to work in this industry as a support/care worker. Not sure what sort of comments you're looking for, obviously any observations that I could make would be purely from an employees perspective.

And I could rant for hours about that!

Please feel free to rant away! All comments are helpful...

For those that are users of the service - are you paying directly or are the care workers provided through local health authority/council??

martindow

stephenni1971 wrote: »

Please feel free to rant away! All comments are helpful...

For those that are users of the service - are you paying directly or are the care workers provided through local health authority/council??

My father's LA contracts it out to a care company. Because of his level of savings he pays in full.

Hope it didn't sound like a rant but I have been shocked at the pay and conditions of the carers. To me it seems like a poor business model to treat them so poorly that there is constant turnover and need to retrain new staff who often leave after a few weeks. The agency struggle to cover all of the care plans especially at weekends.

Maz

OP, can I direct you to this thread on the Discussion Time board -
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/3630119

This will give you some idea of the problems faced by care workers out in the field.

I have to say that having worked in this industry myself, I agree with pretty much everything they say!

HTH

0050anne

i am currently a care worker with with a trust agency.we have had a lot of cut backs this past couple of years,but we do get a lot of extras compared to private agency workers .i would recommend your friend go down the home help route.at present anybody who has a home help will still have it provided an paid for by the board but once they die they home help will not get a new client the home helps are being trained to be carers so home helps are not being employed anymore.if you are a client in need of a home help then you must pay for it yourself.i believe there is a market out there for this help people are living longer an most of the elderly want to stay at home because it is very costly to go into a care home.i would recommend it starts in one area at a time advertise locally for the workers an the clients so it will cut travelling expences,this is how it works in my area most workers dont need to drive they can walk around their calls.going down the carer route is more expensive for the employer when you take into consideration all the training that will have to be given to his workers, an there is a lot of training needed eg manual handlig,risk assessment,infection control the list is endless an costly.whatever he decides to do i wish him luck