why does the care industry...

[gina32]

...pay such rubbish wages

[ummmm]

I don't know. Considering how much care homes charge...

[LoftyLottie]

Basically, because it uses mostly contracted labour and the only purpose is to make a huge profit.

[boxtops]

..because it can, it's in it for the money.

[slinky.kate]

its not social responsability,its'social unresponsability'

[LoftyLottie]

There are few council care homes now, most of them are private and they rely on the fact, in my opinion, that most carers are women and women will accept lousy wages if they have family commitments and no real qualifications. Care home offer training, but the qualifications they offer are really basic.

There are some excellent care staff, but unfortunately, because of low wages a great deal of care staff are not so good.

There should be, in my opinion, proper training for care workers and they shouldn't be allowed to care before they are trained.

[boxtops]

The care homes which have NHS contracts may be better.

[LoftyLottie]

And when they are trained they should get a good salary. But it won't happen!

[LoftyLottie]

The standard of care assistants that come from Agencies who provide home care is generally rubbish - not always!!

[RATTER15]

Because they can get away with it!!

I work in the care industry and I totally agree with most of these comments.

Yesterday I decided to leave my job because of the fools I work for and work with.

I will look for a better job in the care industry where the staff and residents are paid better and appreciated more, with that the residents will receive better care as well.

[andy-hughes]

Care services, like nuerseries, are woefully under-respected - and as a reult - woefully underpaid.

The government ministers who oversee the salaries of workers in care and nurseries are more than able to provide private care for their own, so they have no experience, much less interest, in these important areas of society.

because pay is so low, these organisations cannot hope to attract the calibre of people they need, though not of course in all cases - so these areas remain a constant concern to those involved, none of whom are related to ministers.

[LoftyLottie]

I think the same about nurseries as well, if I am honest. Until pay improves then the right calibre of people will not be interested in these jobs. Hence why I wouldn't send a child to a nursery!

Good luck Ratter, I hope you find something else soon where you can get the salary you so obviously deserve.

[gina32]

loftylottie, what do you mean by proper training?

[LoftyLottie]

Training to a higher standard than NVQ Level 1 or 2 Gina. And training to be undertaken before being allowed to be a Care Assistant. And then supervised training on the job.

[LoftyLottie]

When families are forking out huge sums of money for their loved ones to be cared for (or the people needing care are forking out themselves) then they deserved to be cared for by really dedicated care staff who are well trained in every aspect of care.

Caring should be a much more respected position than it is and the salary should reflect it.

[gina32]

what would you say is higher than nvq's

[LoftyLottie]

Higher levels of NVQ's ! NVQ Levels 1 and 2 are not difficult to achieve.

I am not suggesting that Care staff need to have degrees, just more thorough training and far more supervised experience before they can actually take on a carer's role. And then I think they should be able to earn a really decent salary and be respected.

[gina32]

i agree with the better salary

[LoftyLottie]

Yes Gina, but to achieve better salaries in life we mostly have to get better qualified. The problem is, although there are lots of good carers, there are also a lot of bad ones. I am not saying that qualifications make a good carer, but if people were dedicated to caring and it carried higher rewards then they would put themselves through the necessary training.

Just look in all the papers at the adverts for Care Assistants 'No experience necessary - training given'. In one care home that my mother was in (before I took her out) the cleaner who sometimes stepped in as a care assistant. No disrespect to cleaners who do worthwhile jobs. But should this happen.

[Sqad]

It is a matter of supply and demand.......there is no shortage of applicants for the Care Industry.

Why pay someone £12,000 a year if you could get one for £10,000 a year?