Start Your Career in Caring

Carewatch is a national home care provider, with care worker job opportunities all over the UK. They provide elderly, or disabled people, as well as people with health conditions with care workers to support them in their own home. We spoke with Carewatch about working in care, and why it can be a good choice for mums.

Do you need experience or qualifications to start a career in care?

You don’t need any experience or qualifications to be able to start work with Carewatch. You just need to have a caring and positive nature, and be reliable. We provide you with a full training programme over 4 days usually, this is paid. You then shadow with an experienced care worker and receive refresher and specialist training regularly. You’ll always have on hand support from the support team whenever you need it.

What does a Home Care Worker typically do?

A home care worker will support people with their daily living, this might be helping with housework, preparing and cooking meals, and getting groceries. You may also provide personal care, which is helping them to wash and dress. Sometimes you are helping people to go to the shops, to medical appointments or social events. People want to stay in their own homes, so helping them to do that, and retain levels of independence is really rewarding.

Is care work flexible enough for mums with school age children?

Yes, we employ many people with school age children, due to the fact that it’s such flexible work. You agree to a rota that suits your hours of availability. You could work just lunch time calls, afternoons, or weekends and evenings if that’s what you’re after.

Is there opportunity for career progression and qualifications?

There is always opportunity to achieve qualifications in Health and Social Care, and we will support you in that. We offer career progression too, so from Care and Support Worker, you can go into other roles. The role of Quality Officer for example, where you would do things like review care plans, and oversee the quality of the service provision of the whole branch. The Branch Manager role is another avenue for progression.

Do you need to be a driver with a care to do home care work?

Ideally you need to have a car, and in rural areas, this is essential. Some urban areas might be easy to get to calls on public transport. Some branches have walkers, cyclists, or people on mopeds/motorbikes.

What else can you tell us about home care working for people new to the care sector?

Everyone working in care absolutely love it. We have some people who have taken care work as a career change and have never looked back. It’s a job where every day is different, you meet the most amazing people from all walks of life. You realise that in life, it’s often the small things you do for someone that really make the difference.