“I would always give Christies top marks. Other agencies do not provide the same level of training or support.”
“I would always give Christies top marks. Other agencies do not provide the same level of training or support.”
“I would always give Christies top marks. Other agencies do not provide the same level of training or support.”
The Application Process
What are we looking for?
To be a good carer, you must want to care. You must be compassionate and want to make other people’s lives better. So even if you have no previous experience but have a caring nature, we would still like to hear from you.
You must be legally be allowed to work in the UK. If you are unsure if you can legally work in the UK please look at the home office website. Please note that we are unable to assist with, or sponsor visa applications.
Our clients need to understand you and you need to be able to understand them. So we need to know that you can speak and understand English well. We will carry out a telephone interview with you to help us judge this.
It is important that you are able to cook. You must be able to prepare basic English meals, from scratch. To help our carers we’ve produced a cook book and a recipe book available on our carer’s extranet.
It is not vital that you have a driving license, though it is a huge advantage to both you and our clients. If you hold a non-EU driving license you can drive legally in the UK for up to 12 months from when you enter Great Britain. This includes any small vehicle (such as a car or motorcycle) listed on your full and valid license. However some insurance companies in the UK may not cover you when driving for a client unless you change this to a full UK license. For more information please visit the government pages on driving.
To work for Christies Care you must be legally entitled to work in the UK. You must tell us if you have any previous criminal convictions.
You have to be fit to be a carer. This type of work can be physically demanding and involves a lot of bending and stretching and possibly carrying heavy items such as shopping bags.
Why be a carer at Christies?
Our carers tell us that with Christies Care, they get the work they want. This is why we have so many carers who have been with us for ten years or more. We have a dedicated member of staff whose job is to introduce carers who have just finished training to their clients. This way, newly trained carers also get the clients they need.
Our carers tell us that the reason they stay with Christies Care for so long (more than 1/3 of our carers has been with us for more than 5 years) is that we look after them. Our carer support team is always there at the end of the telephone, or our advisors can always visit you and talk, face to face.
Our free training is recognised as being the best, and it equips carers to be able to do almost any caring task. Further, in-depth, condition specific training is also available, free of charge.
Our carers earn £500 to £800 a week, and have free board and lodging when they work.
Christies Care’s Local Area Advisors visit and fully assess our clients, identify any risks that might be evident and evaluate the working conditions. Once a client has started, we do a full re-assessment whenever necessary and if you feel that you could do with a face-to-face chat with someone, our local advisor will come and visit you.
If, through no fault of your own, your work is cancelled (say your client goes to hospital, or passes away), we will offer you free accommodation here in our guesthouse. And if there are weeks when you don’t want to work, you can stay in our subsidised guesthouse.
To keep you up to date, to share ideas and stories about your caring lives, we have a carers website and newsletter. This may carry a story from a carer, telling how she has taken her client on holiday, or it may contain important information about how to avoid a scam.
What Next?
If a live-in home care job sounds like something you would like to do, click any of the “Apply Now” buttons, fill in the application form and we’ll be in touch to let you know more.
“Christies Care works well for me as I know the carers and staff do a great job for their clients.
I have seen first-hand how bad things can be with pop-in agencies where the staff aren’t trained or supported properly.
I’m so proud to be a part of Christies Care.”
"My name is Caroline Dube and I’m a live-in carer.
I chose to be a carer because I have a passion for people.
I find it very fulfilling helping people who are ill, elderly, or have physical or learning difficulties to perform to their best. It makes life worth living!
I love learning new things, shopping, socializing and walking."
"My name is Chad Walton and I’m a live-in carer.
I became a carer because I wanted to be directly involved with the promotion of independence for others, supporting clients to achieve their goals.
With the training and constant support I have received from Christies I'm able to do this every day!"
"My name is Denise McCrory, and I love being a Christies Carer!
Nearly 7 years ago, I started helping a few of my elderly neighbours and I enjoyed it so much I decided to join Christies Care.
Their two week Carer training programme and annual Carer update sessions have allowed me to help not only my friends and family but also my clients who I now consider to be an extended part of my ‘family’.
Their memories, well-being and hobbies have become an integral part of my day with them, and I am learning to knit, crochet, get beaten at Scrabble and I am receiving an education in English village life.
What’s not to love!"
Self-Employed Vs. Employed?
What does it mean to be self-employed?
It means that you are engaged by your client to carry out your client’s wishes. We introduce you to your client, but you are not employed by us.
We do not tell you what to do or what not to do. We can offer advice on best practice and our team is there at all times to offer support or a listening ear.
As your contract is with your client, we strongly recommend that you and your client should have it in writing and sign a contract for services together (we have a link to a specimen copy). This will clarify how long you will be working for your client, your agreed fee and the quality of the service you undertake to provide. It will also set out the conditions you expect from your client. It will commit you and your client for the weeks concerned.
Your client will generally pay you directly and you will be responsible for your own income tax and National Insurance. Our accounts team can give you some advice on how to the system works, how to register as self-employed, how to pay NI and how to do a self-assessment tax return. It’s not difficult and hundreds of our carers do it each year without trouble.
For Christies Care to introduce you to a client, to be self-employed, we must be sure you are a suitable carer for that client. You must have done the relevant training, had the relevant checks and we must be confident that you are a caring individual, who displays at all times the correct caring attitude.
What does it mean to be employed?
If you are employed by us, you will be caring for our client, according to the care plan. We are responsible for telling you what you can and cannot do. Our team is there to offer help and advice for you at all times, as well as instructions.
Christies Care will pay you directly into your bank account and will deduct tax and NI contributions at source.
To be an employed carer, we must be sure that you are suitable. You must have done the relevant training, had the relevant checks and we must be confident that you are a caring individual, who displays at all times the correct caring attitude.
What does it mean to be self-employed?
It means that you are engaged by your client to carry out your client’s wishes. We introduce you to your client, but you are not employed by us.
We do not tell you what to do or what not to do. We can offer advice on best practice and our team is there at all times to offer support or a listening ear.
As your contract is with your client, we strongly recommend that you and your client should have it in writing and sign a contract for services together (we have a link to a specimen copy). This will clarify how long you will be working for your client, your agreed fee and the quality of the service you undertake to provide. It will also set out the conditions you expect from your client. It will commit you and your client for the weeks concerned.
Your client will generally pay you directly and you will be responsible for your own income tax and National Insurance. Our accounts team can give you some advice on how to the system works, how to register as self-employed, how to pay NI and how to do a self-assessment tax return. It’s not difficult and hundreds of our carers do it each year without trouble.
For Christies Care to introduce you to a client, to be self-employed, we must be sure you are a suitable carer for that client. You must have done the relevant training, had the relevant checks and we must be confident that you are a caring individual, who displays at all times the correct caring attitude.
What does it mean to be employed?
If you are employed by us, you will be caring for our client, according to the care plan. We are responsible for telling you what you can and cannot do. Our team is there to offer help and advice for you at all times, as well as instructions.
Christies Care will pay you directly into your bank account and will deduct tax and NI contributions at source.
To be an employed carer, we must be sure that you are suitable. You must have done the relevant training, had the relevant checks and we must be confident that you are a caring individual, who displays at all times the correct caring attitude.
Your Recruitment Team
As the New Client Team Leader I am proud of the service that my team strive to offer our New Clients. I am lucky to work with such a passionate and driven team.
In my spare time I enjoy spending time with family and friends, especially my lively niece. I attend yoga classes and volunteer my time to the local Brownie unit and Dance School.”
I conduct the initial interviews with the carers from all around the world, I love talking to new people every day and starting a wonderful relationship with Christies Care and the carers.
Before joining Christies I worked in the social care sector recruiting social workers across the country.
When I’m not working, I enjoying spending time with my son, finding excuses not to go to the gym and always looking for a quirky place to grab some food and a pint."
I have 6 years recruitment experience from when I lived in Essex. I moved here 2 years ago and am enjoying my new life in the East of England!
Outside of work I enjoy spending quality time with my family and walking my 2 dogs (along the seafront is our favourite place to be)!”
Due to previously being a support worker, I understood the importance of matching the right carer to my clients and encouraging independence for each client as well as support and advice. I used this knowledge in my role as a Booking Coordinator and I feel it benefited myself as well as my clients. I have loved getting to know each and every client I have assisted, listening to their stories and being able to make them happy through finding a regular carer for them.
I then moved over to the Recruitment team in January 2017, for a change but also to learn more about various roles in the company. Again I used my knowledge as a support worker and as a Booking Coordinator in order to find suitable carers to join Christies Care. In recruitment I get to speak with carers from all over the UK as well as from other countries, getting to know them as individuals and being able to tell them with confidence the benefits of joining us due to our training and support.
I have always been fond of helping people and supporting them in any way I can. I love new challenges and learning about the ins and outs of the company.
In my spare time I enjoy spending time with my family, pets, and friends and, when I get the chance, I enjoy drawing/painting and also doing photography.”
After spending over 7 years in the Bookings Department, working with the Topaz Team, I moved to the Recruitment Department in 2017. I enjoy my role as a Compliance Co-Ordinator and being part of team.
In my spare time I enjoy socialising, travelling, running and Formula One.
I am excited to start working at Christies Care and I look forward to meeting everyone!
Outside of work, I am a very sociable person and love to spend time with my friends, go shopping and binge watch Netflix. I also like to think of myself as a gin and cocktail connoisseur so love trying new recipes."
Your carer Recruitment team is here to guide you through the recruitment process, to answer your questions and to make sure that a potential carer has the right attitude, skills and outlook to be a good live-in home carer.
As a prospective carer, you will talk to our team who will tell you about Christies Care, explain the duties and responsibilities of a live-in home carer and discuss our requirements. Because our clients are vulnerable adults, we have an obligation to only recruit carers who we are sure are going to be good and who have been thoroughly checked.
We know that the decision to be a live-in carer is not one that is taken lightly and that most of our prospective carers are nervous. As a prospective carer, you are coming all the way to Suffolk, to be trained, then introduced to clients and you don't really know what the actual work will be like. Your carer recruitment team understand these concerns and will help to reduce them.