Caremark Thanet: Care and Support Worker Open Days

On Tuesday 7 March, we held the third of our carer open days. The first was held at our offices; the second and third were held at Smith Court’s Hotel in Margate.

Smith Court’s Hotel is a superb venue and the staff there look after us very well. The open day on 7 March was very well attended – 18 prospective care and support workers in total over two sessions.

The purposes of these days are to provide information, advice and guidance to people who think that they might want to work in domiciliary care, and more specifically to work for Caremark Thanet.

The format of the day is typically as follows:

First, there is an introduction session led by our Business Development Manager, Jemma Clayton.

Second, there is a presentation from the managing director of Caremark Thanet, Garry Costain. This presentation gives the audience a little bit of information about our history; emphasises the company’s ethos based on an uncompromising approach to the quality of care delivery and valuing of our carers; outlines the benefits of working for us and the wider opportunities available, and rounds off with a glimpse of the plans for how our success story will continue.

Third, there is an opportunity to ask Garry any questions that the audience might have.

Finally, we always try to invite along one or more of our carers so that the audience can ask questions directly to someone who is, in fact, doing the job.

The feedback from our 7 March open day was extra-ordinarily positive. Most people went away with one of our application packs. We interviewed two people on the day, one of whom attended an induction the next day. We have subsequently interviewed three other people to whom we have offered positions with us.

Many thanks to all those who attended and to Smith’s Court Hotel for its hospitality.

If you’d like information about our next open day, contact Jemma Clayton on 01843 235910 or email jemma.clayton@caremark.co.uk.

Garry Costain is the Managing Director of Caremark Thanet, a domiciliary care provider with offices in Margate, Kent. Caremark Thanet provides home care services throughout the Isle of Thanet. Garry can be contacted on 01843 235910 or email garry.costain@caremark.co.uk. You can also visit Caremark Thanet's website at www.caremark.co.uk/thanet.

Do You Work in Domiciliary Care?

Do You Work in Domiciliary Care?

Are you looking for something new?

We are Caremark Thanet: Providers of Outstanding Domiciliary Care to the Residents of Thanet.

We are looking to recruit a small number of experienced care and support workers to supplement our existing team. We are looking for people to cover: Margate, Ramsgate, Broadstairs, Westgate and Birchington.

If you would like to find out more about the opportunities that are available with us please telephone  01843 235910. 

You can also visit our website: www.caremark.co.uk

and Facebook page: facebook.com/caremarkthanet

If you feel that we are the type of company that you would like to work for: telephone me now.

Do you live in Westgate or Birchington?

Do you want to support some of Thanet's most vulnerable residents?
Do you work in home care or do you want to work in home care?
Do you live in Westgate or Birchington?

We are Caremark Thanet: Providers of Outstanding Domiciliary Care to the Residents of Thanet. And if you answered yes to the questions above; we want to talk with you.

We have work throughout Thanet but have a particular demand for carers in Westgate and Birchington. 

We offer:

Initial training

Free uniforms

Further training

Highly competitive rates of pay
Bonuses
Progression opportunities

If you would like to find out more about the opportunities that are available with us please telephone 01843 235910.

You can also visit our website: www.caremark.co.uk

and Facebook page: facebook.com/caremarkthanet

Do you want to work in home care? Do you live in Ramsgate?

Do you want to support some of Thanet's most vulnerable residents?
Do you work in home care or do you want to work in home care?
Do you live in Ramsgate?

We are Caremark Thanet: Providers of Outstanding Domiciliary Care to the Residents of Thanet. And if you answered yes to the questions above; we want to talk with you.

We have work throughout Thanet but have a particular demand for carers in Ramsgate. 

We offer:

Initial training

Free uniforms

Further training

Highly competitive rates of pay

If you would like to find out more about the opportunities that are available with us please telephone 01843 235910.

You can also visit our website: www.caremark.co.uk

and Facebook page: facebook.com/caremarkthanet

Caremark Thanet are introducing guaranteed hours contracts for care and support workers

Do you work in domiciliary care?

Would you be interested in a guaranteed hours contract?

We are Caremark Thanet: Providers of Outstanding Domiciliary Care to the Residents of Thanet.

We are looking to recruit a small number of experienced care and support workers to supplement our existing team. We are looking for people to cover: Margate, Ramsgate, Broadstairs, Westgate and Birchington.

We have a number of guaranteed hours contracts available

Benefits include;
* excellent rates of pay
* an element of paid travel time
* 28 days paid holiday per year (pro rata)
* excellent training opportunities

Find out more about us by visiting:

our website: www.caremark.co.uk

and Facebook page: facebook.com/caremarkthanet

If you feel that we are the type of company that you would like to work for: telephone now on 01843 235910 or email thanet@caremark.co.uk

Do You Work in Domiciliary Care?

Are you looking for something new?

We are Caremark Thanet: Providers of Outstanding Domiciliary Care to the Residents of Thanet.

We are looking to recruit a small number of experienced care and support workers to supplement our existing team. We are looking for people to cover: Margate, Ramsgate, Broadstairs, Westgate, Birchington and Sandwich.

We currently have a particular demand for people who are available to work weekends and/or evenings

If you would like to find out more about the opportunities that are available with us please telephone me on 01843 235910. However, before you do that, please read the following article:

http://thanetcare.blogspot.co.uk/2015/03/what-do-we-look-for-in-potential.html

This article tells you a great deal about the type of company we are and what we look for in care and support workers.

You can also visit our website: www.caremark.co.uk

and Facebook page: facebook.com/caremarkthanet

If you feel that we are the type of company that you would like to work for: telephone me now.

Do You Employ your Own Carers Privately?

Isn’t it strange how some days you can’t remember what went on the day before and yet events from decades ago are recalled as though they are playing out before your eyes at the very moment you are thinking of them?

You may wonder what that question has to do with employing carers directly rather than going through a home care provider. If I may crave your indulgence for a short time and ask you to read on you’ll see how it all fits together. If you do employ your own carers or are thinking of doing so, I’m going to tell you about a fantastic little tool that you can use for dealing with tax and national insurance.

Anyway, back to the question in the first paragraph. One such event (from decades ago) is playing out for me in my mind’s eye at this very moment as I type. I was about nine or ten, at school and doing some kind of survey. The two classmates I was working with told me I had to record the information differently from how I was doing it. I just could not accept that I couldn’t do things my way; even though they were right and I was wrong.

There are two important points that emerge from this story. First, if you want to do something you should go ahead and do it whatever the opposition (there are a string of exceptions to this like not doing things that are illegal, but I won’t go into these). Second (with the same exceptions applying), you should still continue doing what you are doing, even if what you are doing is wrong (not in the sense of being illegal), or not what others might think is the wisest move on your part.  

For many years, much of our health and social care system has been provided on a paternalistic basis. What I mean by this is that there is always someone who thinks they know what is best for us. As you may imagine from what I said above, I have always been of the view that each of us, most of the time, is best placed to know what is best for us. And even if we want to do something that’s a little risky, we should be allowed to make our own mistakes.

There was a time, and it is a time that is not so very long ago, it was almost unthinkable that you could employ your own carers, or personal assistants. But things have changed. Just because you will become an employer and have a number of duties and responsibilities imposed upon you is not an argument for not employing your own carers. Becoming an employer might be daunting but there is plenty of help available.

I know that one of the most daunting things is dealing with tax, national insurance and pensions. If you employ people, you will be responsible for ensuring that their tax and national insurance are calculated and paid.

From 2018, all employers will be responsible for offering workplace pensions for their employees. The date from which the requirement to provide a pension starts depends upon how many people you employ. For further information; look at this page.

If you employ carers, you will need to submit information to HMRC online, something that goes by the name Real Time Information or RTI. For more information on this; go to this page.

How, then, do you submit information online? There are a number of systems that are available. Most you will have to pay for. There is, however, one system that is free, very simple to use and is provided by HMRC itself. It’s called HMRC Basic PAYE Tools. You can download the software here. HMRC gets a great deal of criticism; however, they should be congratulated for this.

When I first started in business, I used this tool for about a year and a half. The only reason I stopped using it is because you can only have a maximum of fifteen people on it. You don’t have to worry about calculations as the amounts of tax and national insurance that have to be paid are calculated for you. I understand it can also be used to handle pension contributions, although I never used it for this.

Way back in the second paragraph, I asked you to keep reading as it would be worthwhile. If you try the Basic PAYE Tool I think you will agree that reading to the end was worthwhile. If you use it let me know what you think. I’ll be interested to know.

Garry Costain is the Managing Director of Caremark Thanet, a domiciliary care provider with offices in Margate, Kent. Caremark Thanet provides home care services throughout the Isle of Thanet. Garry can be contacted on 01843 235910 or email garry.costain@caremark.co.uk. You can also visit Caremark Thanet's website at www.caremark.co.uk/thanet.