Training and why you have to repeat it
A carer asked me a while ago, why every employer that she went to insisted that she repeated the same training course that she had done before. All organisations that provide care services need to be registered with the Care Quality Commission (CQC). The CQC inspect all these organisations to ensure that they are complying […]
Self Employment
Many carers, especially live-in carers opt to become self-employed. There are a number of benefits to this, but also some pitfalls. The main attraction to becoming self-employed is that you don’t have to work for someone else. You are essentially your own boss and responsible for finding work for yourself and making sure that you […]
Pet Therapy
Whilst not everyone likes animals, for those that do, there have been a wide range of studies performed that have supported the benefits of animal-assisted therapy for people with Alzheimers and other kinds of dementia. Whether designed to make a residential facility such as a nursing home more friendly and homely, or whether a visiting […]
Working time and rest breaks
The basic rule in the UK is that no worker can work more than 48 hours a week on average. The average is usually calculated over a 17 week period, meaning that if you go over the 48 hours on some weeks but are under on others then you may be ok. However nothing is […]
Live-In Care and the National Living Wage
In the UK, all eligible workers are entitled to receive the National Living Wage (formerly National Minimum Wage) even if they are not paid by the hour. This means that if you are a live-in carer and you are paid by the day or by the week, you are still entitled to receive the National […]
What to put on your CV
So you want to work in care, or maybe you already do, but you want to get a better job. What then should you put on your CV to make you stand out from everyone else ? Well if you are looking for a 9 to 5 job then neither the health or care sector […]
Social Care or Health Care – Blurred lines
For those of us in the public, it can sometimes be hard to understand the difference between Health and Social care. After all, why should it matter or make a difference ? Many of the older generation believe that they have paid National Insurance contributions all their lives so that they can be looked after […]
Brexit and its effect on the Care sector
No matter where you get your news from, you can’t help but see something about Brexit wherever you turn. Whether you are for or against Brexit, most people will agree that the future beyond Brexit will likely look very different from the past. So what are the sorts of things that will change, or will […]
Zero-Hours contracts, Pay and Domiciliary Care
The standard practice across the domiciliary care sector is to pay carers on the basis of “Zero-Hours” contracts. There has been a lot of publicity about these types of employment contracts in recent years, most of it negative. However when fairly applied, they can be very suitable for some people. So what is it all […]
Care and regulations
In the UK the provision of care services is strictly regulated by law. Any company or organisation that charges for the provision of care services needs to be registered with the Care Quality Commission (CQC), needs to abide by certain rules and gets inspected and rated. The only exceptions to this requirement to register with […]