Caring for the care workers

It always strikes me as incredible that care workers go to work every day committed to doing the best they can for the people they support, even when their personal lives may be challenging or they’re dealing with bereavement, domestic violence or hardship at home.

One of the most rewarding aspects of my role is the work we do in the Grants Team. I manage a small group of compassionate, clever and committed individuals who process applications which come in from care workers and others who work in social care. The team hear sad accounts of the hardships facing care workers. There are those who are fleeing domestic violence (often with young children), those who have lost next of kin due to covid, or who have been suffering from long covid and have had stays in hospital and are still unable to work. There are also those for whom a small grant can make the difference between barely existing and being able to put food on the table for their families.

Some cases really tug at the heartstrings, and often the team work together to provide holistic support to an applicant, perhaps suggesting they can apply for more than one type of grant given their extenuating circumstances.?Where we see cases of exceptional need we can make the case for awarding a higher grant than usual and where applicants don’t meet our criteria but we feel we need to make an exception we take this to the daily all team meeting for a wider conversation (or to a discussion with Board members) before agreeing how best we can help.

We often receive referrals through registered managers who ask if we can help one or more of their staff. It’s lovely to see this caring and empathetic support in the sector, and of course we are happy to help as much as we can. One manager contacted us about an employee who really needed our help to escape their difficult domestic circumstances, and set up a new home.?They had been a victim of financial abuse, and had also lost income due to the pandemic. We provided them with a financial grant and signposted them to our mental wellbeing and health support; they had been through trauma and needed help to come to terms with the past and to be able to look ahead.

We provide two financial grants; one is specifically related to the pandemic, and the other is for all types of crisis.?We also offer mental wellbeing and health support which provides access to ten sessions with an accredited therapist and we’re trying to encourage registered managers to take up this offer and also to ensure all their staff are aware of what they can access – before they get to the point of crisis. We’re also looking at providing some counselling sessions specifically for managers; one session a month over the course of 10 to 12 months. What do you think? Is this something you or your colleagues would find useful? Please let me know.

How can you help us to help care workers? By letting your teams know we’re there to support them, and signposting them to our site, even if they haven’t told you they’re struggling or need a helping hand, because people are proud and we don’t always feel able to let others know when we need help:?Our Grants