Live-in Carer Job Description & Duties

Live-in carer job description

Becoming a live-in carer isn’t just a career decision, it’s a lifestyle change. A highly trained live-in carer lives with the client at home, supporting their day-to-day needs as an alternative to residential care. As the carer, you may live with your client in their own home for up to 24 hours per day, 4 to 12 weeks at a time.

‘Independence [really] is happiness’, because there is no place like home — and this is what you will be enabling someone to have. Live-in carers are modern day superheroes, creating a safe environment to allow people to continue living in their own home, allowing them to be part of their local community and keep up the hobbies they love.

Live-in carers support those with conditions as diverse as a spinal injury, Parkinson’s, or multiple sclerosis, maintaining their independence and keeping them safe. Live-in care support is also a good option for those with dementia, who find change difficult and become confused or frightened by a new environment such as residential care. Someone with dementia is reassured by the routine and continuity of living at home.

As a live-in carer, you may be involved with:

• Companionship – getting to know your client’s interests, watching TV together and chatting on a daily basis
• Personal care – helping with things like washing and dressing
• Mobility support — some clients may struggle to get around the house without someone there
• Supervising medication according to the client’s care plan
• Household chores — cleaning, taking out the bins, gardening
• Cooking meals
• Running errands such as shopping or picking up prescriptions

What are the duties of a live-in carer?

As a live-in carer, your duty is to lighten the load at home. Your role might include:

• Help with physical activities
• Offering emotional support and reassurance to a client and their family
• Liaising with medical professionals, reporting changes, sharing important information
• Chauffeuring clients to and attending medical appointments and social events
• Personal care — including help with washing, dressing, nails and hair
• Cooking and potentially helping with eating and drinking
• Monitoring health — regularly noting nutrition and hydration, temperature and weight
• Helping to administer medication
• Helping to take care of a pet
• Support with incontinence care

How to become a live-in carer

If you already have professional or personal care experience, you will be able to use that extra insight for live-in care work. But if you haven’t worked in care before you can still become a live-in carer, because ENA will provide all the training you need with free, in-depth induction training over five days.

Simply complete an application form and, if successful, you will have an informal chat with a member of the recruitment team. If that goes well, you will have an interview. If successful at the interview stage, your recruitment advisor will process a background check. If this is all clear, you will be invited to a training and assessment week, after which you will be matched with a client and then it’s official — you are a professional live-in carer.

What are the benefits of working as a live-in care worker?

There are a number of reasons why you might want to become a live-in carer. The emotional and financial rewards and the variety leads to high job satisfaction. The benefits are numerous for the right person:

✔ Experiencing the feeling of making a huge difference to someone’s life
✔ Living in a different area of the country (or world!) with each job, if that appeals
✔ Not having to commute to work each day
✔ Free training
✔ Days full of variety — many different tasks
✔ Working with a wide array of people
✔ Building a close rapport with the people you care for
✔ Seeing the results of your hard work first-hand
✔ A good salary
✔ Time to do your job properly, with just one client to focus on
✔ Opportunities to obtain qualifications on the job
✔ Flexible working — helpful if you are studying
✔ Gaining a new perspective — appreciating the little things in life

How to apply to become a live-in care worker with ENA Care

Being a live-in carer isn’t a typical job with regular hours — it takes a special kind of person. We make sure that the live-in carers we employ are perfect for the job and that they can work to the best of their abilities while supported by our friendly management team (with over 25 years’ experience). Our rigorous recruitment processes, including on-the-job supervision and background checks, ensure that we find people who are the right fit for clients and ENA Care.

To find out more about working for ENA Care Group, please call 01707 383 033 or email recruitment@ena.co.uk.