There wouldn’t be a shortage if a decent wage was paid.
If only there were an elected body of representatives with the power to tackle issues like this.
My wife works in care she has just done 4 ten hours night then she off 1 back in for 2 then off 2 but the second day she’s got to go in for a course then she’s in for 3 all for 10 p an hour more than minimum wage she’s got 20 years experience and thy wonder why they can’t get and retain staff☹️
I used to investigate care companies in another life. Almost without exception the staff are treated like shit.
Look after a dying person, who is incontinent, clean them, medicate them, provide manual handling and pastoral care, palliative care, whilst adhering to strict legislative and practice guidelines, which, if you get wrong you’ll go to prison for, all whilst over worked and without support? Be a quasi, nurse, a cleaner, a pharmacist, a counsellor, cook, financial planner, entertainment provider and bereavement planner all for £2 less an hour than a shelf stacker?? They pay minimum wage and treat you like shit? Expect you to subsidise your wage on the basis of it being ‘rewarding’?? People have no idea how hard a care job is. But they won’t put their hand in their pocket and pay a living and decent wage. It’s scandalous.
Cos the pay is shit why would anyone want to do that job for pennies above minimum wage when you can go stack shelves for a fair bit more ?
At my last care job we’d work 7 days on the bounce twice a month. The rest of the month was made up of 3-4 day weeks. Absolutely brutal. Every day a different start time. I used to weep on my way there some days
Before that I was at a place where you started at 9am and finished the next day at 10am. Sometimes you were dishing out meds for 5 different people at 7 in the morning, all wanting dressing and breakfast too and you were doing it on 4 hours sleep because 9 times out of 10 someone is waking you up in the middle of the night needing assistance with something or other
I’m private now and decide when I work. I never do more than 30 hours a week and it’s bliss
I work in the care sector and its on its knees. If something isn’t done its going to collapse within the next couple of years. The problem is no one is willing to deal with the issues. Its going to end with the elderly living in hospital. Taking up much needed resources.
Better pay. Better safety. Is only half the problem. Being able to recruit the right people for the job is another. We’re desperate so we’re taking anyone that hasn’t got a criminal record. But the problem is 75% of them aren’t up to the job. So they leave the field within a year.
Care homes are now businesses that keep pulling back on money. The last care home I worked at I did 12 hour shifts where I was assaulted, sworn at, had irate family members taking their guilt out on me, was insulted and spat at all for minimum wage. I had to beg my bosses for underwear and sheets for beds which she only allowed after a full shift meeting. We also ran out of incontinence pads frequently from staff giving un prescribed residents them to wear rather then assisting them with their toilet needs. This led to us regularly having to use small pads that doubled up therefore people ended up lacking any dignity they did have. When I did night shifts sometimes it was just myself looking after 20+ vulnerable adults. Also when working in care there are people who do the same job but just don’t care about the job instead of enriching residents life’s even by having a 5 minute chat and cuppa they were more happier gossiping amongst themselves . I miss being a carer but I don’t miss the way homes are run
Working in care is soul destroying and physically gruelling, the pay is shocking and they always want you to do more hours than what you are contracted to do. Unless they increase the wages by a significant amount I think the elderly in this country are going to eventually go without care because there won’t be anybody to do it. It’s one of the hardest yet most fulfilling jobs ever and I’m glad I got to experience working in care for the 6 years that I did because I learnt a hell of a lot. Some of the people I took care of have left an imprint on my heart that I won’t ever forget but I’ve done my time in care now and physically can’t do it anymore because I’ve hurt my back too much doing it. To all those still doing the role I applaud you and look up-to you, I hope things will change in the industry but sadly whilst everyone the tories are in charge it’s looking less and less likely that anything will happen.
The wages and conditions are a joke. The only plaster over the problem was Eastern European workers and now we have Brexit so they’re gone.
The only shocking thing is how many people didn’t see this coming.
Stop paying them in conkers and pay them a real wage
Mental health crisis going to kill so many more, tip of an iceberg that’ll pass unseen.
Well maybe if the British people didn’t look down their noses at carers then more people would do the work. But the fact of the matter is classism is entrenched in every facet of society in the UK, including what you do for work.
When I worked in care I would get funny looks if I told someone what I did, a lot of “you must have a real passion for it” type comments that are basically translated into “wow, glad I don’t have your job fuckwit”
Now I work in an office I’m seen as normal and acceptable. No funny comments about how I just care just so so much.
Maybe change the ways in which your society operates at a fundamental level and you’ll see people more willing to work the ‘low class’ jobs.
I worked for an organisation that had a load of care homes. The care staff were basically on minimum wage, the staff at head office talked them down behind their backs.
During the pandemic we got hit really badly, loads of deaths. The carers didn’t get a wage rise, instead they got a video from the directors in their various large houses (one director spoke infront of pillars holding up her porch ffs).
I spent loads of time having to do video interviews with carers and doing photography and articles to try and make it look like it’s worth working in care… is it fuck.
As much as I understand this woman’s annoyance for obvious reasons, she should be asking the company she’s likely paying to look after her mum, why they aren’t prepared to pay the staff appropriately for their labour while likely being paid through the nose by this woman.
The fat cat shareholders of these private care homes are enjoying the cream though with extortionate fees which are not passed down to the workers.
As for the state care homes, this is what you get with tory funding. Wake up electorate and never vote tory again.
I started in care around 18 months ago and was promoted after 10 months in.
I work in care as a team leader / coordinator and for it I make 50p more than the rest of my team per hour.
I take home about £1800 a month after tax and do a 40 hour week with two sleep in shifts per week as well spending around 60 hours a a week at work.
I spend 24 hours a week sole working in a facility with 5 residents.
I love my job but Christ it’s such a slog and absolutely pure stress like nothing I’ve ever experienced. I’ve done a fair few things prior to care both blue collar and white collar and I have to say everything pales when it comes to the expectations and requirements to what I do now.
No one can be shocked by this anymore. The country wants this. They voted for it in droves for the last 12 years. This is the Britain people have chosen.
“pay shortage”
change titles to avoid spreading propaganda where possible
Also the reason ambulances are stacking up outside hospital and a&e wait times are insane. On thursday I spent 12 hours sat with my incredibly poorly mum in an ambulance outside a & e waiting for an available bed for her.
Yet another symptom of an incredibly broken system.
Thank the tories for this.
Apparently our healthcare workers don’t deserve a decent wage when they perform an essential role in society, apparently a politician does a better job than they do so yano, ask your local mp to explain their salary and compare it to the salary of a careworker.
If people can’t afford to care for their dying parents maybe they shouldn’t have them!
Am I doing this right?
I’d rather your mother squirm in her own shit than do that job for £10.31 an hour lol
I’m a care worker, I look after folk with LD and autism and its the best job ever, yeah pays crap but I learnt long ago that money isn’t worth crap if you hate your working life.
I lived in the woods during covid for my dudes I’m blessed to know them and help them have cool times.
I honestly hope more folk do start thinking of it because the job satisfaction is out 9f this world.
Yeah it’s hard but life is especially for folk whom need help. So help them.
The industry needs to start paying more. An industry that expects people to be available to work 365 days a year with long shifts but doesn’t pay well is always going to run into trouble recruiting. There has been talk for several years of the demographic change in our population causing a need for more care workers but there has been no talk of how difficult it will be recruiting people to do the work when the pay is so low. People clapping their hands doesn’t pay the bills.
Not a care worker but used to be a support worker with young people. Shit pay (I got £1,100 a month which didn’t even cover my basic cost of living), horrible work conditions and, if you know you know, fairly traumatic work too.
I understand EoL work has its own strains, but any job requiring care for another human being/s necessitates a more-than-livable wage; it’s only fair and you’d have to be pretty inhumane to say otherwise.
Work in mental health care – meant to be a 4 man team looking after 15 clients, we’re down to 2.5 man team and literally no one wants the job.
Just to give anyone without experience in care an idea of why this might be.
I worked as a domiciliary carer for one of the biggest care companies in the North East. The attraction was the £10.25 per hour pay they’d advertise, but no. You were only paid for the time you spent in a call, not the time you spent walking or driving between houses.
A twenty minute call where you’d give medication with little to no training, change a soiled pad, make breakfast and receive whatever abuse you’re gonna get that day – to them, that was worth £3.42. There isn’t a single reason anyone would stay in a job like that when supermarkets are paying more to stack shelves.
(Oh, and the shifts you’d work were from 7am till 11pm at night, with “breaks” in between as long as you weren’t late for a call or asked to fill in for somebody else).
Pay them better then perhaps they will want to do it
I spent 15 years helping my father care my mentally ill mother for free plus a good case of PTSD at the end of it. Been there done that. Would have to pay me at least £30 an hour to do that job
I work in care full time but yet I’m homeless, well sofa surfing to be exact, the pay doesn’t even cover a basic standard of living for a single person.
I passed a McDonald’s the other day and they are paying a higher rate of pay which absolutely dumbfounded me.
Looking after and being responsible for human beings whilst suffering the crippling depression from the long days, challenging clientele, endless training and paperwork is obviously of no value to society
It’s like saying there’s a shortage of slaves and not seeing anything wrong with the statement.
We live in a dystopia where you work full time, have no time left and barely have enough to feed yourself. It’s not a worker shortage it’s a slave labour shortage
Care work is one of the easiest jobs to get into where I live. A few short courses and the promise to do further training and you can start work pretty much straight away.
The thing is, most care homes are run by companies with staff that aren’t care workers so they don’t understand what it takes to offer quality care.
You get an hour to go into the persons home, tidy, clean them, feed them and do anything that needs doing. Travel to their home is included in that hour, so you might only get 45 mins actual care time.
If you factor in the low wages and having to pay for fuel too and from the clients home alongside the poor working conditions, you are going to lose a lot of people who actually care and end up with the dregs who don’t give a toot about their quality of care.
This is a wage issue. If you want carers, pay them. Why on earth would you rather do such a difficult, draining job when you’re on minimum wage
Salaries need to increase. Better treatment from Employees including Increased benefits.
Who tf would want to work as care worker for minimum wage ? And you have to own your own car and drive around lol.
37 comments
There wouldn’t be a shortage if a decent wage was paid.
If only there were an elected body of representatives with the power to tackle issues like this.
My wife works in care she has just done 4 ten hours night then she off 1 back in for 2 then off 2 but the second day she’s got to go in for a course then she’s in for 3 all for 10 p an hour more than minimum wage she’s got 20 years experience and thy wonder why they can’t get and retain staff☹️
I used to investigate care companies in another life. Almost without exception the staff are treated like shit.
Look after a dying person, who is incontinent, clean them, medicate them, provide manual handling and pastoral care, palliative care, whilst adhering to strict legislative and practice guidelines, which, if you get wrong you’ll go to prison for, all whilst over worked and without support? Be a quasi, nurse, a cleaner, a pharmacist, a counsellor, cook, financial planner, entertainment provider and bereavement planner all for £2 less an hour than a shelf stacker?? They pay minimum wage and treat you like shit? Expect you to subsidise your wage on the basis of it being ‘rewarding’?? People have no idea how hard a care job is. But they won’t put their hand in their pocket and pay a living and decent wage. It’s scandalous.
Cos the pay is shit why would anyone want to do that job for pennies above minimum wage when you can go stack shelves for a fair bit more ?
At my last care job we’d work 7 days on the bounce twice a month. The rest of the month was made up of 3-4 day weeks. Absolutely brutal. Every day a different start time. I used to weep on my way there some days
Before that I was at a place where you started at 9am and finished the next day at 10am. Sometimes you were dishing out meds for 5 different people at 7 in the morning, all wanting dressing and breakfast too and you were doing it on 4 hours sleep because 9 times out of 10 someone is waking you up in the middle of the night needing assistance with something or other
I’m private now and decide when I work. I never do more than 30 hours a week and it’s bliss
I work in the care sector and its on its knees. If something isn’t done its going to collapse within the next couple of years. The problem is no one is willing to deal with the issues. Its going to end with the elderly living in hospital. Taking up much needed resources.
Better pay. Better safety. Is only half the problem. Being able to recruit the right people for the job is another. We’re desperate so we’re taking anyone that hasn’t got a criminal record. But the problem is 75% of them aren’t up to the job. So they leave the field within a year.
Care homes are now businesses that keep pulling back on money. The last care home I worked at I did 12 hour shifts where I was assaulted, sworn at, had irate family members taking their guilt out on me, was insulted and spat at all for minimum wage. I had to beg my bosses for underwear and sheets for beds which she only allowed after a full shift meeting. We also ran out of incontinence pads frequently from staff giving un prescribed residents them to wear rather then assisting them with their toilet needs. This led to us regularly having to use small pads that doubled up therefore people ended up lacking any dignity they did have. When I did night shifts sometimes it was just myself looking after 20+ vulnerable adults. Also when working in care there are people who do the same job but just don’t care about the job instead of enriching residents life’s even by having a 5 minute chat and cuppa they were more happier gossiping amongst themselves . I miss being a carer but I don’t miss the way homes are run
Working in care is soul destroying and physically gruelling, the pay is shocking and they always want you to do more hours than what you are contracted to do. Unless they increase the wages by a significant amount I think the elderly in this country are going to eventually go without care because there won’t be anybody to do it. It’s one of the hardest yet most fulfilling jobs ever and I’m glad I got to experience working in care for the 6 years that I did because I learnt a hell of a lot. Some of the people I took care of have left an imprint on my heart that I won’t ever forget but I’ve done my time in care now and physically can’t do it anymore because I’ve hurt my back too much doing it. To all those still doing the role I applaud you and look up-to you, I hope things will change in the industry but sadly whilst everyone the tories are in charge it’s looking less and less likely that anything will happen.
The wages and conditions are a joke. The only plaster over the problem was Eastern European workers and now we have Brexit so they’re gone.
The only shocking thing is how many people didn’t see this coming.
Stop paying them in conkers and pay them a real wage
Mental health crisis going to kill so many more, tip of an iceberg that’ll pass unseen.
Well maybe if the British people didn’t look down their noses at carers then more people would do the work. But the fact of the matter is classism is entrenched in every facet of society in the UK, including what you do for work.
When I worked in care I would get funny looks if I told someone what I did, a lot of “you must have a real passion for it” type comments that are basically translated into “wow, glad I don’t have your job fuckwit”
Now I work in an office I’m seen as normal and acceptable. No funny comments about how I just care just so so much.
Maybe change the ways in which your society operates at a fundamental level and you’ll see people more willing to work the ‘low class’ jobs.
I worked for an organisation that had a load of care homes. The care staff were basically on minimum wage, the staff at head office talked them down behind their backs.
During the pandemic we got hit really badly, loads of deaths. The carers didn’t get a wage rise, instead they got a video from the directors in their various large houses (one director spoke infront of pillars holding up her porch ffs).
I spent loads of time having to do video interviews with carers and doing photography and articles to try and make it look like it’s worth working in care… is it fuck.
As much as I understand this woman’s annoyance for obvious reasons, she should be asking the company she’s likely paying to look after her mum, why they aren’t prepared to pay the staff appropriately for their labour while likely being paid through the nose by this woman.
The fat cat shareholders of these private care homes are enjoying the cream though with extortionate fees which are not passed down to the workers.
As for the state care homes, this is what you get with tory funding. Wake up electorate and never vote tory again.
I started in care around 18 months ago and was promoted after 10 months in.
I work in care as a team leader / coordinator and for it I make 50p more than the rest of my team per hour.
I take home about £1800 a month after tax and do a 40 hour week with two sleep in shifts per week as well spending around 60 hours a a week at work.
I spend 24 hours a week sole working in a facility with 5 residents.
I love my job but Christ it’s such a slog and absolutely pure stress like nothing I’ve ever experienced. I’ve done a fair few things prior to care both blue collar and white collar and I have to say everything pales when it comes to the expectations and requirements to what I do now.
No one can be shocked by this anymore. The country wants this. They voted for it in droves for the last 12 years. This is the Britain people have chosen.
“pay shortage”
change titles to avoid spreading propaganda where possible
Also the reason ambulances are stacking up outside hospital and a&e wait times are insane. On thursday I spent 12 hours sat with my incredibly poorly mum in an ambulance outside a & e waiting for an available bed for her.
Yet another symptom of an incredibly broken system.
Thank the tories for this.
Apparently our healthcare workers don’t deserve a decent wage when they perform an essential role in society, apparently a politician does a better job than they do so yano, ask your local mp to explain their salary and compare it to the salary of a careworker.
If people can’t afford to care for their dying parents maybe they shouldn’t have them!
Am I doing this right?
I’d rather your mother squirm in her own shit than do that job for £10.31 an hour lol
I’m a care worker, I look after folk with LD and autism and its the best job ever, yeah pays crap but I learnt long ago that money isn’t worth crap if you hate your working life.
I lived in the woods during covid for my dudes I’m blessed to know them and help them have cool times.
I honestly hope more folk do start thinking of it because the job satisfaction is out 9f this world.
Yeah it’s hard but life is especially for folk whom need help. So help them.
The industry needs to start paying more. An industry that expects people to be available to work 365 days a year with long shifts but doesn’t pay well is always going to run into trouble recruiting. There has been talk for several years of the demographic change in our population causing a need for more care workers but there has been no talk of how difficult it will be recruiting people to do the work when the pay is so low. People clapping their hands doesn’t pay the bills.
Not a care worker but used to be a support worker with young people. Shit pay (I got £1,100 a month which didn’t even cover my basic cost of living), horrible work conditions and, if you know you know, fairly traumatic work too.
I understand EoL work has its own strains, but any job requiring care for another human being/s necessitates a more-than-livable wage; it’s only fair and you’d have to be pretty inhumane to say otherwise.
Work in mental health care – meant to be a 4 man team looking after 15 clients, we’re down to 2.5 man team and literally no one wants the job.
Just to give anyone without experience in care an idea of why this might be.
I worked as a domiciliary carer for one of the biggest care companies in the North East. The attraction was the £10.25 per hour pay they’d advertise, but no. You were only paid for the time you spent in a call, not the time you spent walking or driving between houses.
A twenty minute call where you’d give medication with little to no training, change a soiled pad, make breakfast and receive whatever abuse you’re gonna get that day – to them, that was worth £3.42. There isn’t a single reason anyone would stay in a job like that when supermarkets are paying more to stack shelves.
(Oh, and the shifts you’d work were from 7am till 11pm at night, with “breaks” in between as long as you weren’t late for a call or asked to fill in for somebody else).
Pay them better then perhaps they will want to do it
I spent 15 years helping my father care my mentally ill mother for free plus a good case of PTSD at the end of it. Been there done that. Would have to pay me at least £30 an hour to do that job
I work in care full time but yet I’m homeless, well sofa surfing to be exact, the pay doesn’t even cover a basic standard of living for a single person.
I passed a McDonald’s the other day and they are paying a higher rate of pay which absolutely dumbfounded me.
Looking after and being responsible for human beings whilst suffering the crippling depression from the long days, challenging clientele, endless training and paperwork is obviously of no value to society
It’s like saying there’s a shortage of slaves and not seeing anything wrong with the statement.
We live in a dystopia where you work full time, have no time left and barely have enough to feed yourself. It’s not a worker shortage it’s a slave labour shortage
Care work is one of the easiest jobs to get into where I live. A few short courses and the promise to do further training and you can start work pretty much straight away.
The thing is, most care homes are run by companies with staff that aren’t care workers so they don’t understand what it takes to offer quality care.
You get an hour to go into the persons home, tidy, clean them, feed them and do anything that needs doing. Travel to their home is included in that hour, so you might only get 45 mins actual care time.
If you factor in the low wages and having to pay for fuel too and from the clients home alongside the poor working conditions, you are going to lose a lot of people who actually care and end up with the dregs who don’t give a toot about their quality of care.
This is a wage issue. If you want carers, pay them. Why on earth would you rather do such a difficult, draining job when you’re on minimum wage
Salaries need to increase. Better treatment from Employees including Increased benefits.
Who tf would want to work as care worker for minimum wage ? And you have to own your own car and drive around lol.