Carer advice

[Nicolavarg]

I am looking after a gentleman but as he is a family friend I do not get paid apart from food and accomadtion I enjoy what I do but don’t have allot of experience other than seeing to his medication shopping cleaning cooking company and I want to do the same if not more and get paid how do I gain more experience I reside in Kirkcaldy Fife Scotland

[Vonnieruth]

You could apply to agency which deals with care within the home or you could apply to a care home All will give you NVQ level in social care level two You can in a care home also do level three after if you wish

[ywiggan]

HI

Look at PA pool they offer jobs in the caring sector and its an fab site.

Wishing you all best on your journey.

[Hidden]

Hi Nicolavarg,

A very warm welcome to this group and it's good to hear that you enjoy caring for someone. It's a really challenging thing to do, for anyone, so it sounds as if you have exactly the right sort of personality to consider this as your job choice.

It's really essential to get proper certification. Although it's still just possible to get jobs in Care Homes without it, and get accreditation on the job, it's not ideal, either for you, or for the people you care for.

It is possible to study online for a Full Care Certificate and it's very achievable, although of course there is a fee to do this.

If you 'Google' Care Certificate, you'll see lots of links pop up that you can explore for further information.

Very best wishes, and I hope you achieve your goal. Do come back and let us know how it all goes.

[MylovedhasPd]

Hi Nicola, what you do is truly amazing - food and accommodation in exchange for personal care and support is valuable. It is up to you to make sure that both of you feel the exchange is mutual, acceptable and positive. We are benefiting from a sitting service - it is staffed by women of all ages from our community. They are dedicated, serve with passion and are very interesting! They seem to attend courses at their regional education college, levels 1 to 5. I know from past experience that this is a super way to learn even though schooldays seem far away (bad/good) memory! No advice, just sharing.

[Nicolavarg in reply to MylovedhasPd]

Thank you for advice

[Nicolavarg]

Thank you all for all the advice I really appreciate it thanks I also relocated from South Africa recently so advice is so helpful

[lKeith]

Nicolavarg

Hi, seen your post, to get paid for your efforts you may have to contact your local Dept of Work & Pensions which may open a can of worms for you so be careful. Training maybe a local college but you will also likely need a police test (the name of which escapes me) but it clears you for working with children & I think vulnerable people. Initially you could try for information from your local Citizens Advice office. I would suggest you forget to mention accommodation just tell whomsover that you visit him each day. Depending on your income you may be entitled to "Carers" allowance or the person you care for maybe able to get for himself "Attendance" allowance which he could pay to you, not much but every little bit helps.

IKeith

[MylovedhasPd in reply to lKeith]

There are two levels of Attendance Allowance (or whatever it is called these days) for which the person living with pd applies for and the amount offered is based on how much physical help s/he needs to e.g. dress, wash etc. The carers allowance is what you could apply for and it requires that one be with the person living with pd 30 hours (I think!) a week. This latter isn't means tested. And I don't think the allowance is either - All this from memory, and to give encouragement... I find it helps psychologically to have recognition for your role/their need.

[MylovedhasPd in reply to MylovedhasPd]

healthunlocked.com/care-com... - don't be put off applying - it is a way of asking to be considered whether/what you and the person with pd are entitled to. Good luck!

[Nicolavarg]

Thank you so much for advice really appreciate it