Staff for care homes across the UK
A care home is where people live when they need care and support at any hour, most often older people and people living with dementia. The rota has to be covered every hour of every day, and the people who cover it need to know the residents as well as the tasks.
We supply care assistants, senior carers, cooks and domestic staff for temporary cover, and recruit permanent staff up to registered manager.
What a care home does and who regulates it
A care home gives people a room, meals and personal care together, as one package. That package is what the regulators register, and it is why a care home carries such close responsibility for the people who work in it.
The same kind of home is registered by a different body in each nation:
- England
- Care Quality Commission, for accommodation for persons who require nursing or personal care.
- Scotland
- Care Inspectorate, as a care home service.
- Wales
- Care Inspectorate Wales, as a care home service.
- Northern Ireland
- RQIA, as a residential care home.
Care home cover at a glance
What we usually agree with a care home before the first shift.
- Duties
- Personal care, help with eating and drinking, moving and handling with the home’s equipment, activities, notes and handover, and medicines for trained seniors.
- Shifts
- Earlies, lates, long days and waking nights.
- Checks
- The adults’ criminal record check for the nation, references from recent care work, and moving and handling, safeguarding and fire safety training.
- Pay basis
- Hourly, with a rate agreed for each type of shift. The legal floor is the National Minimum Wage or National Living Wage.
- Qualifications
- In England, the Care Certificate standards for new starters, and the Level 2 Adult Social Care Certificate or Level 3 Diploma in Adult Care for experienced staff. In Scotland and Wales, registration with the SSSC or Social Care Wales and the qualification that goes with it. In Northern Ireland, NISCC registration.
Roles a care home usually needs
Most care home bookings are for care assistants and senior carers. Homes that provide nursing also need registered nurses, and a short-staffed kitchen or laundry needs its own cover.
- Care assistant Personal care and everyday support in care homes, nursing homes and respite services.
- Senior care assistant Leads the care team on shift, gives medicines and keeps care plans up to date.
- Registered nurse (RGN) Registered general nurses for nursing homes and care homes with nursing.
- Deputy manager Second in charge of a care service, leading the team when the manager is not there.
- Registered manager Runs a care service and is registered with the regulator as the manager responsible for it.
- Kitchen and domestic staff Cooks, kitchen assistants, housekeepers and laundry staff for care homes.
Checks for care home staff
On top of the checks we run for everyone, for care home work we confirm:
- the right criminal record check for work with adults: an enhanced DBS check with the adults’ barred list in England and Wales, PVG membership in Scotland, or an enhanced AccessNI check in Northern Ireland
- recent moving and handling training, so your team only needs to show the worker your own hoists and slings
- dementia awareness training where the home supports people living with dementia
- medicines training and competency records for seniors who will give medication
- food hygiene training for cooks and kitchen assistants
Care home shift patterns
Care homes run through the day and night. Some split the day into earlies and lates with a separate waking night team, while others work long days and long nights.
- Early to or
- Late to
- Long day to
- Waking night or to or
Temporary cover and permanent hiring for care homes
Temporary cover
Tell us the shifts, the floor or unit, and anything the worker needs to know about the residents. Where we can, we send the same workers back to the same home, so residents see faces they know and your seniors spend less time on induction.
Permanent hiring
For permanent posts we advertise, screen and interview, then put forward candidates whose checks are under way or complete. For senior carers and deputies we look closely at their medication, supervision and care planning experience, and a paid trial shift can be arranged when both sides agree.
Questions from care home managers
Can your carer give medication on a night shift?
Only if they have up-to-date medicines training and your home has assessed them as competent under your own medicines policy. Tell us when you book if the shift involves medication, and we will only offer workers whose training records cover it.
Will the worker know how to use our hoist?
Everyone we supply for care home work has recent moving and handling training. Each hoist and sling is different, so please show them yours at the start of the first shift, as you would with any new member of staff.
Are you registered with the CQC?
No. The CQC registers the organisation that provides the care, which is your home. An agency that only supplies care workers to a registered provider does not register with the CQC for that work, so our job is to make sure the people we supply meet what your registration requires.
Staff for your care home
Call with the shift times and the unit, or send the vacancy in writing and we will come back to you during office hours.