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Home help - what's acceptable in a person helping you?

Nicola22

Hi,
I hope this is allowed (if not, I apologize).

I'd like to become a home help, cleaning, running errands, making a sandwich or two etc.

But I'm not sure if anyone would want me in their house(!?);

I've been out of work for some time and lost my confidence.
I will hopefully have an assessment soon for ADHD and possibly a mild learning difficulty - something I've struggled with for quite some time but only had the courage to ask for help (I mainly struggle with my memory, using the right words and organizing myself).

Anyway, I just don't want to rely on my husband for the rest of my life, but I worry no one would want to employ me either - I've applied for lots of jobs but my CV has a massive gap, I'm talking over a decade as I've been a mum and with one thing and other become quite secluded as I've lost confidence.

I did some volunteering but people were asking if I was stupid or "what's wrong with you?" as I did t need things repeating sometimes. It was upsetting tbh (They also don't give references). Now I just litter pick in my free time - no one judging me there!

I've always worked in retail but I do enjoy cleaning and helping people. I've mainly helped family (they're no longer here) and I'd love to do that going forward

Whilst I'd rather not be torn apart as so often happens on the internet, I'd appreciate your honesty -

Do you feel I'm not someone you'd like doing things for you?

(I think being asked if I was stupid so often over the years I worry it will be an even bigger problem, esp for people paying me to do things for them)

I'd be happy to do it initially at a much reduced rate as I have no idea how long things will take. I clean my house and run errands but obviously I have no time constraints and no one really to answer to - time management is something I'd need to learn as I go.
I'd need insurance also.

If you got this far, thanks!

(I just want to make it clear I'm not a business, I'm not looking for work - I have nothing set up. I just want to know what people would be looking for/be happy with - if it's even worth looking into)

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Comments

janer1967

Hi and welcome to the community

You would in most cases need a crb check at least for people to allow you in their home and if this means attending vulnerable people it would require a full dbs check eg criminal record check

Also people may want some sort of reference from previous clients and possibly some care qualifications

I know you are mainly thinking of cleaning and errands so the qualifications could be irrelevant

If clients are paying for your services and letting you into their home and possibly trusting you with money to run errands they need to know you can be trusted

newborn

Nicola you sound absolutely ideal for many people. You are already working as a volunteer. Could I suggest you extend that idea? Offer to work for a free trial session for an hour or two, as a form of confidence building, and to try out the work.

The last thing you need is someone feeling entitled to bully you, and if you are working as a favour, then you can simply head for the door !

Loads of people have all sorts of reasons for lack of confidence. (Being neurodiverse, or having some types of medication, or a previous accident, and of course some types of learning disability, or hearing or concentration issues, are among the hundreds of reasons people may sometimes need to have things explained more than once. So don't be afraid to tell people in advance exactly what you said here)

Loads have gaps in a c.v. Loads of people have different types of past employment, but that is not a bad thing, it's all experience adding together to make you perfect for some new employer.

After you have worked for one or two people for a free trial, and find someone who seems to be a good match of their requirements and your skills, you could offer to extend the trial, but with no committment on either side. This is absolutely not, in any way, legal advice, so I think you could get some kind of 'help back into work' scheme experts to confirm what is or is not possible.

Ask them what is their response to a suggestion that if you pop into your neighbour to help out, it is simply an informal arrangement between two people, and neither of you need to have criminal records checks or special insurance, because you would count as an informal visitor to her home, helping her without payment. If they agree that, would they agree you could have the same non-employed legal status to help a person who is not your neighbour?

A job centre or other advice specialist would tell you about the insurance and c.r.b. check and minimum wage you are allowed to work for. To me, your offer to work at reduced rate at first seems sensible, but I remember there was a legal insistence that minimum wage per hour must be paid, which upset some disabled people whose jobs mattered a lot to them, but who knew they were simply not able to complete the same workrate as other people, so they would get sacked. They realised that it took them two or three hours and a lot of close supervision, to complete a task which fellow workers could finish within one hour.

Others will know how much a criminal record check is, because it might be something you have to buy yourself. And there may be a long wait. And I suspect there can be complications about not having just one check for all employers, I have heard of complications.

Sandy_123

You could register with a home care agency who will do a a CBR check, this may be funded by yourself, depends on the company, plus now require to be fully vaccinated. They usually do training. A lot of home care carers do personal care.