Qualifications to be a carer
Working as a carer can be incredibly fulfilling and rewarding, as even on the toughest days you’re still making a positive difference to someone’s life. A desire to help others is what makes for a great carer, which is why we don’t see formal qualifications as a necessity for becoming a carer with us. Instead, we prefer to hire people who possess a naturally compassionate, empathetic personality and who want to look after those who need help.
Of course, that doesn’t mean that we don’t encourage and support our carers to enrol on training and achieve qualifications. All of our private carers receive comprehensive assessment and instruction when they start with us, which builds on existing knowledge and prepares them to provide a wide range of care services to people with varying needs. We also guide every carer to complete the industry recognised Care Certificate when they are new to Helping Hands, ensuring that they achieve the required standard.
There are also multiple relevant qualifications that can equip carers to specialise in certain areas of care and enhance their knowledge and skillset, as well as giving them more eligibility for promotion to other roles. However, it’s important to thoroughly research a qualification first to ensure it will be relevant and useful, and to make sure the carer has enough time available to balance study with work.
Level 1, 2 and 3 qualifications
Helping Hands offer all employees the opportunity to further their skills and seek career progression, which is just one of the many reasons why we’re considered the UK’s leading home care provider. There are numerous Health and Social Care qualifications available, so it’s worth doing some in-depth research to determine which would be the most relevant for your desired career path. Taking the City and Guilds awarding body as an example, there are qualifications available from level 1 – including pathways for whether you’re prefer to focus on adult care or take a course that also covers young people’s care. Level 1 qualifications are introductory, and are roughly equivalent to GCSE grades 3-1 (D-G by the old system). These courses require you to be able to motivate yourself to study independently as well as in a group setting, and would cover modules such as health and safety, safeguarding, awareness of duty of care, and equality, diversity and inclusion.
Qualifications at levels 2 and 3 develop the knowledge gained at level 1 and help you to apply your skills in more specific, specialist contexts.
Level 2 and 3 Diplomas
A level 2 diploma in Health and Social Care will expand on what you’ve already learned in your level 1 qualification and is generally undertaken by someone already working in care who wants formal recognition of their skills. Level 2 diplomas involve a far greater time commitment than a level 1 qualification; the City and Guilds courses, for example, take up to 460 hours to complete. This rises to roughly 580 hours at level 3.
In certain level 2 and 3 diplomas, the learner can specialise in a certain area that is of interest or relevance to them, including:
- Learning disability services
- Dementia care
- Healthcare support
- Domiciliary care
- Residential care
- End-of-life care
At level 3, there will be a combination of mandatory and optional units. Mandatory units include:
- Duty of care in care settings
- Promoting person-centred approaches in care settings
- Safeguarding and protection in care settings
- Promoting health, safety and wellbeing in care settings
Helping Hands are very proud to have previously won awards for our comprehensive training content. Additionally, we were the only full-service home care provider to be awarded the Skills for Care accreditation for our carer training.
Developing care skills
Developing your skills is an important part of being a carer, as it allows you to take more responsibility and provide your customers with a better service. We want every Helping Hands carer to feel completely confident in their abilities when they visit a customer’s home, which is why we put so much emphasis on providing all new carers with a welcoming environment where they can shadow existing carers and undertake work-based qualifications to grow their knowledge and skillset.
What skills do you need to be a care worker?
Not anyone can be an exceptional carer, it takes a special sort of person to commit fully to helping those around them. From doctors and nurses to caregivers and charity workers, those who commit their careers to helping those in need require the following skills:
- Compassion
- Sensitivity
- Understanding
- Patience
- Kindness
- Works well under pressure
- Customer service skills
- Pays attention to detail
- Clinical skills
- Social care skills
Qualifications for nursing care
One of the care services that we offer is nursing care at home. This is provided by expertly trained carers who are supported by our own team of Clinical nurses. Operating in this way means that our carers are more aware of their customer’s condition, allowing them to support the customer’s complex care needs with more expertise and knowledge.
Carers wishing to take on further clinical responsibilities may be able to train as a Nursing Associate. This is a new role created by the NHS which is designed to bridge the gap between health care support workers and qualified nurses. A Trainee Nursing Associate studies for a Foundation degree which allows them to have additional clinical responsibilities such as undertaking venepuncture and ECGs, performing and recording clinical observations, discussing and sharing a patient’s information with registered nurses, and more.
Do you need experience to be a carer?
Having experience within care is always a benefit when applying for roles of the same nature. Any medical or caregiving background will help boost your application and show that you can handle yourself when it comes to caregiving duties. Some roles require a minimum amount of experience or certain qualifications.
However, it is not a requirement for some roles and training can be provided. As long as the candidate possesses the qualities listed above, it is often all that is needed. With Helping Hands, it’s not necessary to have previous experience when applying to be a carer. The main thing we look for is if the candidate has natural compassion and empathy and whether we can see their passion for helping others. If they have these, we will pull out all the stops to train and educate the new carers so they can begin their journey as a caregiver.
How much does a carer earn?
A carer’s salary can range based on company, amount of hours worked and position. According to Indeed, the average salary for a care worker in the United Kingdom is £12.06 per hour. With Helping Hands, we exceed the average and can offer an average hourly pay of between £14.35 and £14.70, depending on location. Not only that, but we also fully train new employees and get to know our carers. Helping Hands wouldn’t be what it is today without them, so we love to recognise the work they do.
As a Helping Hands care assistant, you’ll benefit from:
- Competitive rates of pay – we recruit the best and pay above the market rate
- Flexible work patterns – choose when you work and how often
- A 24/7 carer helpline and ongoing support from your local branch
- Full training before you start and the opportunity to shadow a carer
- Free uniform
- Generous mileage allowance
- Specialist training and development through the Qualifications & Credit Framework (QCF)
Search for care assistant jobs to find an exciting new role in your area. We have positions available throughout England and Wales.
Page reviewed by Kathryn Mahon, Regional Clinical Lead on February 2, 2023