Articles

Care crisis means ‘Jet-in’ carers from Spain take advantage of UK jobs

23/11/2017

Because of the crisis in the healthcare sector, and the shortage of carers, there is now an influx of people flying to Britain to take advantage of the glut of job positions. Barmaids, builders, and in fact anyone who is in financial difficulty in Europe can fly into Britain to earn a living caring for the elderly.

An investigation by The Telegraph showed that thousands of expats were funding their lifestyle abroad by jetting into the UK to take care of clients for a few weeks. In many cases they received just a few days training before going to work with an elderly person.

Many local newspapers in Spain are filled with adverts from British firms offering lucrative wages, free accommodation, and cheap travel to and from the UK.

Reports have shown that there is a huge increase in the number of expats arriving from Spain, with the offer of nearly £l,700 a fortnight being the reason. They did not want to come to the UK to look after people, they were drawn by the money they would earn.

It is a well-known fact that the Social Care system in Britain relies heavily on care workers. Families pay some of carers, while the state directly funds many others.

Over the last years there has been a great shortage of care workers, also called ‘live-in’ carers, to fill the job of taking care of people in their own homes.

The situation is becoming worse because of the widespread closure of care homes, meaning that more people need to be looked after in their own homes.

Charity Director for Age UK, Caroline Abrahams says that this is simply another symptom of the social care crisis.

The study showed that some of the expats who arrived back in the UK to take these positions were in fact builders and barmaids who were out of work, and taxi drivers who were struggling to make ends meet abroad. These people were given the responsibility of caring for vulnerable adults, often with learning disabilities, and dementia.

Many of the expats who were recruited had no experience with caring for anyone, and were merely looking for a supplement for their incomes in Spain. The downturn in the Spanish economy means that they need to make more money to stay there.

One expat who was interviewed by The Telegraph said that it was very daunting taking care of a vulnerable person, with just a handbook and a telephone number to call an agent if he needed advice.

The ‘live-in’ care position often involves manual handling, personal care, and medication administration. Many care workers are self-employed, which means that they are not regulated by the CQC (Care Quality Commission). They are also personally responsible for declaring and filing tax returns.

Companies who recruit self-employed carers admit that they may not carry out physical home checks before placing carers in homes. They admit that some of the carers reluctantly take jobs, just to boost their income. Often the carer comes into a job they do not want to do, because they are short of money. This is very difficult for them to do. Coming to a country where they have not lived for many years can become a problem for some. 

This crisis has come about because of the thousands of care workers in homes who have left the sector, thus making care homes short staffed, which has led to them closing. Council budget cuts have meant that many people cannot be cared for in care homes, and families are forced to pay for live-in care.

Chairman of the Commons Health Select committee, Dr Sarah Wollaston says that the country should be growing their own workforce, instead of relying on expats from overseas. More expats are arriving from France, Portugal, and Greece to work over the winter.

Age UK says that the situation is very worrying, and she urged Care Companies to consider the needs of the vulnerable adults they sent carers to live with.

Care Companies retaliated by saying that they tried to match carers with people who were similar in likes and dislikes. Many carers received annual training updates, particularly in the Manual Handling, and Medication sections. All carers were supplied with contact information, should they need to discuss any problems with the company.

Care Companies are aware that many carers felt that working non-stop for three or four weeks before taking time off, was beneficial for them. 

A spokesperson from one Care Company said that if more people were cared for at home, it was obvious that more cares were needed to fill the positions. She agreed that the country needs more carers, and if they could not be found at home, then companies would be forced to look further afield