Hi, My name is Jodi Harris and I have 10 years experience within the care sector. I initially commenced work in domicillary care and culminated I. B

Here are the issues I've faced when working as a parcel courier and the circumstances a bogus "self-employed" contract can bring and how there needs to be a distinction between what is "employed" and what is "self-employed". Being self-employed – As a "self-employed" courier we carry the responsibilities of paying our own income tax and providing a reliable vehicle to deliver the parcels in, we pay for the fuel and vehicle maintenance to do the job, as would be expected. Being treated like employees – The issues arise when we are treated like employees. Couriers have a “Field Manager” that instructs the courier what to do. The couriers get constant instructions sent to them on their personal mobile phones, handheld terminals, emails and the online website (couriers must do this, mustn’t do that), on a daily basis. There is no flexibility in when the job can be done – parcels have to be delivered within a rigid time-frame and therefore the term “lifestyle” courier is misleading (a PR lie that the parcel company has often used when describing the job). To add to this, couriers are now being expected to work to an "Estimated Time of Arrival" for all deliveries. Couriers get paid “bonuses” (but with strict, yet not very transparent rules) if certain targets are reached, but nobody knows exactly how close they are and it is extremely easy to lose the entire month’s bonus due to one delivery failing, through no fault of the courier’s – for example, if say, a courier delivers a parcel to a house 5 minutes earlier than stated, they fail the ETA bonus for the entire month. There are other bonuses like this that are so easy to fail, they are as good as “carrot on a stick” bonuses. The consequences of all this – In treating the courier as if they are employees, yet reminding them they are supposedly "self employed" when it suits the company, it enables the parcel company to get away with all kinds of responsibilities, plus they also take further advantage of this situation in various ways. There is no pay rise negotiation (the company lies to the press that there is such negotiation) – I tried to negotiate twice and was turned down even before any such thing could be discussed on my first attempt, then my second attempt was ignored completely, given no feedback. This situation also means this company can make more and more rules, extra hoops to jump through, for no extra pay. More and more signatures are required for some deliveries. Parcels keep getting bigger, yet the company can dictate the pay rate for those parcels. One as big as a car boot can be charged at "packet rate". It means various clients are taking advantage of this, by handing the company more and more large parcels at a lower pay rate to the courier. It also means sometimes couriers have to pay several trips to their depots to pick all of the day's parcels up, due to having less space in their vehicles. 50p is the average parcel rate – but this is only paid on successful delivery. It means if a customer is not in and there is nowhere to leave the parcel, the courier doesn't get paid if they have to take it back with them. There is no transparency in the monthly wage packet. There are 2 columns detailing how many parcels were delivered, but no way of knowing what was paid per band and thus it is difficult to know what the pay rate is per size band. I have in the past emailed the office to be given the lazy response "the rates on your round have not changed". I did get as far as being posted some sheets with rates on when phoning the office once, but even that took a lot of deciphering. Taking holidays if the courier is lucky enough to get cover is a gamble, because if the cover fails to turn up or if something goes wrong, the courier loses their round while on holiday. There is no holiday pay. Couriers get some bank holidays off, but only because the company themselves are taking a break. There is no sick pay (I had the flu twice one year but kept working through it, out in the cold, in fear of losing my round). There is therefore no job security – if the courier suffers illness, or their vehicle breaks down, or they have to attend a funeral - if there is no one to cover their round - tough, they either deliver those parcels or get work withdrawn. If a courier finds someone to cover their round or help out now and then, it’s not unlike this company to steal that new courier and either give them another round, or even to replace the original courier and give them that courier's round and I've heard stories of that happening more than once.

I count myself fortunate to have a permanent city council job as a care worker. Nevertheless I don't really think we are paid a living wage if you are single. Eg a single colleague works full time and gets just over £1 100 a month. Her rent is £450 a month for a one bedroom flat. By the time she pays bills, buys food and runs a car she is struggling to make ends meet and to save. I don't think this is right when we work hard and care for people. I am on same wage level but have a partner so 2 wages coming in. But if I was single I think I would struggle.

I have recently been "promoted" to senior within my care home and it only pays £0.50 per hour more than a standard carer. I work in a care home in Newcastles west end and we have a wide range of people living there, from the elderly to young people in their early twenties. They range from having severe brain injuries and learning difficulties to very slight autism and adhd. As carers I can without question say that we are the ones who are badly treat, both by our boses, who have been known to write offensive comments about there workforce on facebook and who constantly dont provide enough support for the staff who work there including constantly running out of ppe. My boss and deputy boss now also have members of their family working for the care home so you can imagine the special treatment that goes on with them. How could someone be given the job of senior carer and not work with the more challenging people within the home, unless you were the deputys partner and were a useless overweight pen pusher? Of course all the carers are on national minimum wages which is a disgrace given the things that we have to put up with during the course of an average working day. Things like verbal abuse, physical abuse and being spat on are almost everyday things we have to deal with, along with missing out on break times due to an almost constant lack of staff due to high turnover of staff. We end up with agency staff who sometimes arent worth having yet no doubt get paid more than we do into the bargain. Our other care homes owned by the same people are in constant trouble with CQC over various aspects of how they are ran. The only thing they are in agreement with is how well the carers cope for the rotton wages we are paid. Its disgusting that we are expected to put up with so much for so little in return. I cant wait to find suitable employment somewere else where i will be appreciated by the owners and bosses.

I have worked in the care environment for nearly two years after years of working in Primary Schools.The only way to describe the way employees are treated is degraded.Most of them are privately owned by greedy people who run them on a minimum staff that is unsafe for residents.Residents do not get their needs met to a high standard.This results in neglect and residents get treated like cattle.Care workers are exploited with long hours and working most weekends with no choice.When things go wrong it should be the geedy proprietors that should be made accountable and summonsed.They just get rid of the Managers and put a new one in place to follow the same instructions.They should be monitored regularly than once a year its disgusting.Some of my experiences have left me in fear of residential care for the future.I would never advise any one to embark on this career.There are also residents with advanced dementia that are attacking other residents and this should not happen.

I submitted a comment yesterday but feel more detail is needed. I went to university to become a silversmith, this don't amount to anything, so I started a career in retail. I felt this was soulless and wanted to do a job that had an impact on someone's life, I made the change at the age of 30. I enjoyed contact with people in retail so I became a home carer. I was on a zero hour contract - was paid hourly, but the majority of my calls were 15 minutes each. I found this unsustainable, as I had 4-5 calls a day (£7.70 a day before tax minimum) but enjoyed working with my clients. I applied to work for a full time care home. I got the job and they trained me to become a senior carer and obtained my NVQ level 3 in dementia in record time. I was managing a unit, administering medication and writing care plans within 2 years all with the supervision of highly trained and experienced nurses. This provider however was unable to give me the experience and therefore the progression I was interested in. I was given no choice but to leave. I went to another nationally recognised care provider, but this time residential, assuming the work load would be lighter given the lack of nursing care required, I was wrong. As a senior carer I was on medication for depression and anxiety within 4 months. I was advised by management to step down to a care assistant, and given the opportunity to work my way back up. I do not want to do this. The level of administration, medication and lack of support made the position untenable. I have found that carers do the job out of; necessity, love of it, or something to do as their partner supports their household with their wage. Many carers have good hearts, but are treated as commodities by the company. Expected to work 36 - 48 hours a week, doing 12 hour shifts. Care work is not easy. I want to stress this. The reason why someone is in a dementia home is because the family is unable to care for their loved one at home. This leads to feelings of guilt from relatives, being unable to care for their family member themselves, which in turn can be perceived by care staff as resentment towards them! The carers have exactly the same person to work with, that their loved one couldn't cope with. The same stress is present, but relatives seem to think that the training we received helps, it does not. When you are trying to administer medication to 23 residents, and residents are walking up to you asking you questions - these people have diagnosed dementia, other residents are screaming for a cup of tea when you know they have just received one, and throwing it on a laminated floor causing a falls hazard, when relatives can enter the unit at any time and you know management will haul you over the coals for not having your unit in order at all times... I have almost left care numerous times not because of the company, but the relatives of residents being unkind, in denial about their loved ones condition, and belittling care staff verbally intentionally or not. Senior carers only get a small increase in pay for an inexcusable amount of stress, many carers are pushed to such an extent that they develop stress related skin disorders, anxiety, depression and leave the profession entirely - like myself. The government only seems concerned with carers who look after loved ones at home, care assistants in organisations are exploited, need to fight for tea breaks - I only get 30 mins break in a 12 hour shift currently, having my lunch with residents. On a daily basis carers are verbally abused, attacked, and exhausted from working upwards of 48 hour weeks

I am a managing director of a small care company, we have been going for just a year now. We are absolutely passionate about giving the absolute best care to both our service users and our staff. All our carers are earning well above the national average wage, they are paid mileage and travel time, and their uniforms are supplied for them (two sets each). We started our business to really make a difference to our staff, and to our service users. We have all worked for employers who have not treated us fairly, and have taken our skills and knowledge for granted. However, we have now seen the other side of the coin. The problem we have as employees, is that the NHS do not always pay on time, and the council have very low rates of pay for their suppliers, and we have to tender for their contracts, which often puts us as a disadvantage, because we cannot run at a loss, often we are paying out more than the contracts pay an hour. We have yet to see a profit and I have only just been able to take pay for myself. As managing directors, we have all the office work to do, which is tremendous. We also go out on care, which I would much rather do, than sit in an office all day! The real problem lies with the government, because for whatever reason, they are keeping both councils and NHS underfunded and there, I am afraid, is the rub. We invited our local MP to our office to try to make him understand what we are up against. he listened and gave the usual platitudes, but nothing that helps our situation at all. We don't only carry out domiciliary calls, we care for people who want to go home to die in a familiar situation and with their loved ones, as it should be. The most heart breaking thing for us, is having to turn these contracts away, because we are having such trouble growing our business in the current financial situation. Hope this will shed some light onto what most care business are up against, and why sometimes it's not their fault that their staff are not treated as well as they would like them to be.

Hello we have residents that are x Constantly sat in their own urine ad they have noto been taken to the toilet for hours. Residents who do nothe have the correct night pads and end up with soaking wet beds. Being left up till midnight as there are not enough staff to get everyone to bed and much paperwork too complete Staff having to get in ten minutes early before their shift and not getting paid for it. Bullying of staff from management and senior members of staff. Too much food being fed to the residents with loads of them putting on far too much weight. Medication being stopped for a diabetic residents causing her to fill up with fluid. Getting I'll. And many many more.

I have worked as a home care worker for 10 years now. I can into the job to make a difference to people's life's and for them to maintain there dignity and independence aa much as possible. I have worked on over 50 to 60 hour a week on numerous occasions to meet the demands of care that is needed. I work for 7.70 per hour I don't get paid my travel time between each call and I also don't get paid really by the hour it's only for how long you are in each visit. Numerous times we have had to cut calls short when we have been over worked to make sure that all clients get a call which is unfair to the client do to them paying or contributing to there care. With the rates of pay been so low this is one of the problems why you can't get enough people to work in the care industry and also the zero hour contacts. On some days my wage per hour has dropped below the minimum wage as we only get paid for how long we are in a call. For example I have worked at 15 hour shift including the travel time and only been paid for 11 hours work. Pay needs to be increased across the board travel time paid and scrap the zero hour contracts. Also at the company I work we have to by our own uniforms use our own mobile phones and also how much milage we get paid should be looked at. I really do feel for the clients but also the care workers as I am one mysel. If it was guaranteed hours and and better rates per hour I feel that more care workers would come through the door. I feel we get paid very little for the job we do when you are trying to make a difference and maintain people's dignity and independence in there own homes.

I worked via an agency and apparently to be paid a higher rate by them I had to go through an umbrella company which was just a scam. The agency said I'd receive holiday from the umbrella company which I didn't and when I left I was told there was all this money due back to me but I couldn't claim it nothing but a cDon and a scam and if I had the money I'd take umbrella.co.uk to court. Their staff are poorly trained and blatantly lie about their terms and conditions because I phoned to enquire about some terms and conditions before agreeing to them and 3 different women lied to me about how the system worked in comlete contrast to what was on their paper work