[Misc] I’m giving up social care.. anyone else?

[The Clamp]

Anyone else moving out of nursing, social care etc?

5 years of low paid and high risk work in the social care sector, I’m getting out. Nothing changed after the pandemic, it got worse. I regularly work 72 hour weeks. I cannot survive without overtime. We work 12 hour shifts week nights and 15 hour shifts on weekends. Only got a pay rise when the min wage went up. I had to take some annual leave these last two months or lose it.
Meaning I couldn’t do much overtime. I literally cannot afford to take annual leave.
As a result I’ve had to borrow off a mate to pay for travel to work and buy food.

I became sick of being treated like a mug so last week I went and did my SIA license, I’ve been offered decent work already when my license clears.

Go into work night after night and get called every name under the sun by the people I’m helping for min wage or get paid 6 quid more an hour to go and sit in an empty office block overnight? No brainer.

Goodbye social care, I’d like to say it’s been good. It hasn’t. It’s been miserable.

Anyone else in this situation?

 

[Swansman]

How much did you earn per hour?

 

[BN41Albion]

All I can only say hats off to you for sticking out (what should be seen as up there with but most often isnt) one of the toughest jobs out there for such little financial reward. You should be proud of yourself for that as so many millions would never put themselves in that position to help others. Its such a sad situation for the profession, though. Your situation/story won't be unique by any means, especially now, which is so worrying for the profession at a time when more people are in need.

I work in education and, whilst it's far more secure and well paid than care work, with inflation wages are falling further behind whilst teaching becomes increasingly stressful due to further lack of funding. Schools aren't replacing support staff/making redundancies, can't afford anything other than the most necessary staff/resources... all of which makes teaching far more stressful because everything is so stretched and the lack of support. All for far less pay what with rate of inflation. This year ahead will be the most stressful yet I feel as also dealing with children who have fallen behind due to covid/been plunged into poverty, all whilst government expect teachers to magicay help them to make 'accelerated progress'... with no resources to do so.

Very depressing situation all round for the public sector.

 

[Green Cross Code Man]

People who work in care and schools in support work are paid a pittance as [MENTION=33848]The Clamp[/MENTION] states. It is a massive pity that good, caring folk have to leave a job due to the ridiculously low rewards. And it's going to only get worse I think.

 

[The Clamp]

How much did you earn per hour?

Min wage

 

[The Clamp]

All I can only say hats off to you for sticking out (what should be seen as up there with but most often isnt) one of the toughest jobs out there for such little financial reward. You should be proud of yourself for that as so many millions would never put themselves in that position to help others. Its such a sad situation for the profession, though. Your situation/story won't be unique by any means, especially now, which is so worrying for the profession at a time when more people are in need.

I work in education and, whilst it's far more secure and well paid than care work, with inflation wages are falling further behind whilst teaching becomes increasingly stressful due to further lack of funding. Schools aren't replacing support staff/making redundancies, can't afford anything other than the most necessary staff/resources... all of which makes teaching far more stressful because everything is so stretched and the lack of support. All for far less pay what with rate of inflation. This year ahead will be the most stressful yet I feel as also dealing with children who have fallen behind due to covid/been plunged into poverty, all whilst government expect teachers to magicay help them to make 'accelerated progress'... with no resources to do so.

Very depressing situation all round for the public sector.

Thank you.
Hats off to you too, teaching is hard, hard work. And massively undervalued.

I work with vulnerable women. Another situation that is only getting worse with government cuts.

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

A very sad story. But until tax payers in the UK are willing to pay more in tax nothing will change with health care.

 

[BN41Albion]

People who work in care and schools in support work are paid a pittance as [MENTION=33848]The Clamp[/MENTION] states. It is a massive pity that good, caring folk have to leave a job due to the ridiculously low rewards. And it's going to only get worse I think.

Yep, same in teaching. TAs earning next to minimum wage but nowadays are regularly asked to cover classes etc due to not being able to afford cover, take groups (usually of the lowest achieving children)... being a TA is far more than putting up displays, reading a story, for such little pay

 

[AmexRuislip]

Anyone else moving out of nursing, social care etc?

5 years of low paid and high risk work in the social care sector, I’m getting out. Nothing changed after the pandemic, it got worse. I regularly work 72 hour weeks. I cannot survive without overtime. We work 12 hour shifts week nights and 15 hour shifts on weekends. Only got a pay rise when the min wage went up. I had to take some annual leave these last two months or lose it.
Meaning I couldn’t do much overtime. I literally cannot afford to take annual leave.
As a result I’ve had to borrow off a mate to pay for travel to work and buy food.

I became sick of being treated like a mug so last week I went and did my SIA license, I’ve been offered decent work already when my license clears.

Go into work night after night and get called every name under the sun by the people I’m helping for min wage or get paid 6 quid more an hour to go and sit in an empty office block overnight? No brainer.

Goodbye social care, I’d like to say it’s been good. It hasn’t. It’s been miserable.

Anyone else in this situation?

As you already know, I'm with you on the hours situation.
They certainly don't help your frame of mind, especially with getting no thanks and constant abuse.
With yr SIA license, what do you have in mind?

 

[Wrong-Direction]

The misses left her OT job at the hospital midway through the pandemic due to stress. She's now a wheelchair therapist at the general, community based I can't see her ever going back to a ward environment.

Sent from my SM-A326B using Tapatalk

 

[Swansman]

Min wage

Is that £9.90? Or so google says. Slavery stuff.

Should be illegal. You'd earn double that over here.

 

[Change at Barnham]

Three of our family have worked in social care and can sympathise totally with the OP.
With plenty of alternative jobs available there will be plenty of health staff making similar decisions.

The NHS lack of funding is as good as any reason for us to all start paying more attention to our health and weight just to avoid requiring help.
You really don't want to get ill any time soon.

 

[phoenix]

Anyone else moving out of nursing, social care etc?

5 years of low paid and high risk work in the social care sector, I’m getting out. Nothing changed after the pandemic, it got worse. I regularly work 72 hour weeks. I cannot survive without overtime. We work 12 hour shifts week nights and 15 hour shifts on weekends. Only got a pay rise when the min wage went up. I had to take some annual leave these last two months or lose it.
Meaning I couldn’t do much overtime. I literally cannot afford to take annual leave.
As a result I’ve had to borrow off a mate to pay for travel to work and buy food.

I became sick of being treated like a mug so last week I went and did my SIA license, I’ve been offered decent work already when my license clears.

Go into work night after night and get called every name under the sun by the people I’m helping for min wage or get paid 6 quid more an hour to go and sit in an empty office block overnight? No brainer.

Goodbye social care, I’d like to say it’s been good. It hasn’t. It’s been miserable.

Anyone else in this situation?

Good luck, that is truly a eye opener and i have total respect.

 

[The Clamp]

As you already know, I'm with you on the hours situation.
They certainly don't help your frame of mind, especially with getting no thanks and constant abuse.
With yr SIA license, what do you have in mind?

Yep, you do long hours. It takes it’s toll.

As for work with my SiA, there are a few options and a couple of definite roles I have been offered. One is a very new project between the police and a private security company that I’m very keen on.

Or I may just go and sit on my arris in an empty building. I’d like to semi retire at 50 so it’s all about raking in the money for me for a few years. I’d like to buy a live-aboard boat and spend my time exploring the inland waterways of the U.K. If I maintain my SiA license, I can work anywhere and move on when I feel like it. That’s the goal. I have no wife or kids to provide for so in that respect, it’s up to me.

I’d hesitate to go back on the doors of clubs and I would never do retail security again. Bit old for all that now. But I shall see what this company I’m talking to come up with.

 

[The Clamp]

Is that £9.90? Or so google says. Slavery stuff.

Should be illegal. You'd earn double that over here.

£9.50! Yep, it’s crap.

 

[The Clamp]

We have a geo-fenced phone app for clocking on and off at work. Meaning you have to be within 1000 metres of the workplace to clock on or off. If you miss a clock on or off we get our wages docked. Not much, but enough to add up. I sometimes miss them because we have had a hectic night and I’m half alive when I get on the bus home I sometime forget to clock out before I leave the geo-fenced range.

For the record, in five years I have never been late, left early or taken a sick day. Yet I regularly get my wages docked for forgetting to clock out.

 

[AmexRuislip]

Yep, you do long hours. It takes it’s toll.

As for work with my SiA, there are a few options and a couple of definite roles I have been offered. One is a very new project between the police and a private security company that I’m very keen on.

Or I may just go and sit on my arris in an empty building. I’d like to semi retire at 50 so it’s all about raking in the money for me for a few years. I’d like to buy a live-aboard boat and spend my time exploring the inland waterways of the U.K. If I maintain my SiA license, I can work anywhere and move on when I feel like it. That’s the goal. I have no wife or kids to provide for so in that respect, it’s up to me.

I’d hesitate to go back on the doors of clubs and I would never do retail security again. Bit old for all that now. But I shall see what this company I’m talking to come up with.

Taking a trip on the UK inland waterways sounds idyllic.
Apart from waterside pubs, to my knowledge I don't think there's any night clubs on the Grand Union Canal, especially around here.
Rickmansworth does have care homes

Seriously though, I hope you find something that has less hours and gives you more time for yourself.
I'm 56 this year and DO plan to retire at 60 and not to do anymore shift work

 

[BN41Albion]

Thank you.
Hats off to you too, teaching is hard, hard work. And massively undervalued.

I work with vulnerable women. Another situation that is only getting worse with government cuts.

Thank you too. Although I do find that most parents appreciate what a tough job it is to be fair. And the holidays do make up for it somewhat, as well as the fact that, whilst we won't be millionaires, teaching isn't badly paid and covid certainly made me realise how lucky I am to be in a relatively secure profession (unless you're support staff at the moment, sadly)

Working with vulnerable women must be incredibly tough at times. You must have an amazing level of empathy, compassion and ability to listen and give advice/support (amongst many, many other qualities in that line of work!)

 

[Biscuit]

You'll only earn a few pennies less per hour as a Barista than you do as a Nurse.

Also, thanks to the Tories removing the bursary, training to be a Barista doesn't take three years of study and leave you in enormous debt.

The whole system is nuts. People who do vital jobs, like social care, should be paid appropriately.

 

[Kinky Gerbil]

£9.50! Yep, it’s crap.

Ridiculous.

I got paid more at Asda stacking shelves during Furlough.