Tricked into employment?

Dunroamin

assj wrote: »

Oh and she also had to change oxygen tanks, but she wasn't told how to do it and she still doesn't know how to do it. How dangerous could that be! eekkk :-/

Not dangerous at all - unless she's smoking while she does it!;):eek:

ILW

in the end these dire conditions are mainly down to the rates that councils are prepared to pay.

[Deleted User]

Yes I thought so, I meant dangerous for the patient because she doesn't know how to do it, imagine if she did it wrong and they couldn't get any out for whatever reason, I imagine it's like a gas tank for a bbq, but I don't know?

debrag

assj wrote: »

My partner has taken employment with a home care agency.

She applied to work 26 hours per week, because she needed 26.

So they took her on and gave her a verbal offer of 26 paid hours per week.

They gave her an offer letter for the role, but it didn't state how many hours.

So she waited a couple of days, because you can't push to far on your first few days.

So she was given some further forms, training costs and so on. She signed to say she would repay her training fees if she left. Which is fair under normal circumstances.

She also paid £50 for her CRB check.

Well she started to work (out in peoples homes yesterday). They sent her here and there, but found out there was nobody to be with her as she was promised because she has never done this before, so she was asked to pick up another trainee and work together so she did. She then did some work and they were met by a trained employee, so this employee told her to change dressings (which could be illegal as she isn't a nurse?)

So all in all this week she has worked 6 days so far, of which she is due to be paid 15 hours only!!! She is only paid for the time spent at her calls, and they couldn't find her enough calls to make the hours stated.

She is going to leave, because she is being used like a slave. She has to repay the training costs, loose the money for the CRB and has been left to pay her own fuel bills.

Surely this should not be allowed as they have tricked her into working for free. And the worst thing is, her pay dates are as follows

Work 1st Feb - 28th Feb - Paid 25th March

Work 1st March - 31 March - Paid 25th April

Feeling like this should be illegal.

Thats the way home care works, reason why I couldn't do it for a living if not living with my parents.

You only get paid for the time in their homes and maybe a bit towards travel. My last agency never gave me 35 hours even though they said they could. I spent more time traveling or waiting round for calls. The only people I know who get a decend wage were those that worked 6-7 days a week 5am to 11pm with regular clients.

I loved the work but the pay was crap.

Did she not have training before we started work? My last agency gave us a weeks worth of training then I think a week out with a trainer employee.

Our rota was weekly and we have to get it back to the officers signed by the clients by monday morning.

[Deleted User]

She had 2 days training and the ROTA was daily, emailed at 10pm the nigh before. So couldn't plan with children and what not.

girleight@

I suspect she needed them for tax credit reasons although that would be 24 hours.

[Deleted User]

No wasn't for tax credits as we get maximum amount regardless. We have a business that made a loss last year, so we were allowed to offset all of our loss against PAYE income. Because last years income is less than this, this years award is based on income last year that included the loss. - Complicated I know :-/

She just wanted that amount of hours as that's the amount of money she wanted to earn, to do what she needed to do. :-)

sniggings

surely unless self employed, not being paid between jobs is illegal or should be.

Ynayesta

Ok this is disgusting, not the hours, the pay, the fact you don't get paid between calls.

They haven't made her do any shadowing hours, no decent training.

You need to get onto the CQC now, and report this company for negligence.

----

nvm read that comment you made.


yes i'm a home carer myself, minimum wage for time in calls, 10p per call travel allowance. I have to pay to work, i work 6 days a week, sometimes 7 (covering calls) and this is a few months into it, at the start I was only getting 11 hours a week or so. now i'm averaging out at around 22 hours a week, looking for a far better job all the time of course but with the market as it is.

Our rota is weekly, usually done on the friday before the monday it will start, not so reliable though as the office staff are very - useless - we're supposed to have it saturday before the monday, however sometimes I've recived it midday monday or tuesday and once even thursday - having to rely on childish text messages as my rota, and then going back and bothering clients to sign my 'time sheets'

I feel like part of the problem working for this ridiculous system, but it's the council's fault - this is the """quality""" they want for the vulnerable.

[Deleted User]

assj wrote: »

Well she started to work (out in peoples homes yesterday). They sent her here and there, but found out there was nobody to be with her as she was promised because she has never done this before, so she was asked to pick up another trainee and work together so she did. She then did some work and they were met by a trained employee, so this employee told her to change dressings (which could be illegal as she isn't a nurse?)


Feeling like this should be illegal.

Only a District Nurse should be changing dressings to be honest, this company sounds like a "cowboy" the sort that sends rota's as you've described usually are I found, this thread brings back some memories

Really hope your partner has ppe (personal protective equipment like the disposable gloves - the care company should provide these) and using these as soon as enters into people's homes and change for every single new task

Your partner can also cover oneself and try bring this to light by writing it in a care plan or daily notes (the having to pee in a milk bottle etc) which may be their choice - in dom care there was this thing that as long as their was a walkway to the person looked after (no matter what the surroundings you just had to get on with it) as hard as it was, I would also just bombard the company with carer concern forms!!

I don't know that there is much that can be done on the hours, - yeah you can raise a grivence but they can also give the elbow (that also goes for whistleblowing too I'm afraid) and I lost all faith in CQC - their just like the OFT, may get round it doing something in a couple of years to late - it's why I couldn't bear to continue

Still I really do live in hope of what goes around comes around! I once worked for a company with carers that refused to give baths to those that wanted it (it was to hard to operate the electric type bath seat!) got to hope that as them and the owner gets old someone, one day refuses them a bath too! that would be sweet justice

The stuff that these care companies get away with is unbelievable :eek: