Shortage of carers as vacancies for home care jobs are difficult to fill

Video report by Granada Reports correspondent Sarah Rogers

"There's a crisis in care," says the owner of Beloved Homecare, a private company in Urmston in Trafford.

Mark Collier says his waiting list grows everyday because he can't get staff to fill positions in the industry.

Beloved has a dozen vacancies they can't fill, and Mark claims Brexit, leading to foreign workers returning home, and a poor perception of the industry, are partly to blame.

He adds that despite offering training and £25,000 salary he just can't get the staff he needs because of the horror stories in care elsewhere.

He said: "Despite widespread gratitude and praise for carers during the pandemic, in reality there is still a general perception that caring is the bottom of the economic ladder or career food chain - something you do when you can't do anything else.

"The industry is now blighted by a poor image."

Elsewhere most care in the UK is paid for at least in part by local authorities.

There are calls to be done to turn the job into a more recognised and skilled profession with better pay.

Lisa Fletcher a former retail worker turned carer told Granada Reports that although you have to do your homework she's glad she made the change and find's it rewarding to help "and put a smile on people's faces."

She claims her clients have proper time slots and she doesn't feel rushed.

But that's not the case for many other care workers who say they're rushed from place to place, unable to offer proper care.

John Richards whom she cares for says, "She's bossy but she's good, and I tell her she's good."

He said he'd be lonely and life would be a lot more boring without her.

Mr Richards, 81, spent months in hospital following a leg injury and needs help around the home as well as physiotherapy to stay mobile.

His carers also help him get out and about to the local parks and without them he would struggle to stay in his own home.

He added: "They're the only people I really have any sort of allegiance to. You're lonely because a lot of people have their wives or their husbands, I've got nobody like that."

A recent survey by the UK Home Care association revealed 9 out of 10 providers said recruitment is harder now than before Covid-19, or the hardest it has ever been.