Take Care... an alternative view of an ageing population.

Walk into a jobcentre with no skills, qualifications or experience and you will be directed down one of a very few avenues. Call centre work, cleaning, possibly bar or waiting work, or care. The care sector is a steady employer for the unskilled and/or immigrant community, with many employers actively advertising for such a work base.

An estimated 1.5million were employed in the adult care sector in the UK in 2009, with nearly one fifth coming from the migrant community. Whilst I would applaud any industry that helps such individuals find employment, it must be questioned whether or not the care of some of our most vulnerable people should be classified as a position requiring no skills or experience.

I have worked as a care worker for the elderly for over six years, mostly because it is a reliable source of income. I can move to any part of the country and immediately be employed. Legal staffing levels and the much-discussed aging population mean that redundancy is unlikely. The fact that supply of work greatly outstrips demand means that wages remain at either the minimum rate or just above, with little or no fringe benefits. This seems reasonable in a job that anyone can walk into.

Whilst every home differs greatly in the quality of care, the average day in a nursing home involves a large amount of self-organisation and stress, as the supported people are shifted through a conveyor-belt system of feeding and toileting. There is frustration of having a simultaneous list of tasks so long that very little time is given to the personal touches that can make all the difference to one’s quality of life.

In literature, all the right words are mentioned, such as those presented under the Mental Capacity Act of 2007, but without protection from management or staffing levels that allow for implementation of key rights such as choice and dignity, it is futile in the extreme.

To type ‘nursing home care’ into any online newspaper site is to be faced with a list of articles criticising conditions by certain providers. I see it as positive that the media and the inspectoral system are beginning to succeed in exposing the dire conditions experienced by many elderly people. Despite this, as one of many hardworking and committed care workers, I find it insulting that the focus is always on the lowest in the employment chain.

There is no excuse for abuse of the elderly, but to expect corners not to be cut when staff numbers are regularly below legal levels is misguided. I have, in the past, been expected to take sole responsibility for all of the physical needs of twenty highly-dependant service-users. Doing the job of four carers for no extra pay is not within any individual’s capabilities. Addressing the issues of abuse and neglect requires a wider perspective.

A report by Oxfam and Kalayaan, published last year, highlighted the problems of gangmasters and agencies providing workers for the care sector from abroad, providing evidence of labour exploitation and calling for the sector to come under the same protection as other industries under the Gangmasters' Licensing Authority.

Kate Wareing, Oxfam's director of UK poverty wrote: “Employers and agencies in the care sector are increasingly turning to migrant workers, exploiting their vulnerabilities in order to keep costs down.” I have personally encountered workers from overseas with contracts tied to their place of residence. One Polish couple lived in a room as small as student halls, with only a single bed and wardrobe, for four months. Many also pay Emergency Tax unnecessarily or feel pressure to work regular 60-hour weeks.

It often feels as though it is a much-marginalised workforce. We exist in the shadows of all of the political discussions of funding long-term care for the elderly. To professionalise this job and attract UK workers would cost companies in the private sector, as well as the state, millions. As a result, this seems an unlikely course of action for the near future. Large care providers such as Southern Cross and Bupa are aiming at expansion, even in the wake of local authority spending caps. The question also remains over which industry would fill the employment gap for the millions of unskilled workers.

Before the recent election, Gordon Brown claimed to be working towards a National Care Service on a par with the NHS. The Personal Care at Home Bill was rushed through to become an act earlier this year. This may end the hegemony of private care conglomerates and improve working conditions for those on the front line of care. How this ideal of customer choice will pan out in the new coalition's environment of economic challenges remains to be seen. It may increase the power of illegitimate employment agencies providing home care. It is an area that I would like to see under further scrutiny.

I believe that the treatment of care workers can be seen as indicative of the lack of respect that our society has for the elder generation. If we want quality care for our future, we need first to consider the dignity of those providing it.

By Charlotte Barlow