An experienced care worker spoke to TFN on the reasons why they walked away after almost a decade in the job

An experienced social care worker has painted a bleak picture of life working in the industry.

In an exclusive interview with Third Force News, he spoke in-depth and emotionally about how reforms in his organisation led to decreased wages, workers being put in difficult situations and revolts by the people they worked with.

The situation for the staff member – who asked to remain anonymous – came to a head when he was held up at knifepoint by a man who he had been caring for.

“It very much felt that once all the changes had taken, staff were having the opposite effect to helping people,” the worker said.

“One of the tenants started targeting members of staff, and was eventually sectioned.

“When he was taken to hospital, they would only give him treatment if two members of staff were with him, as they were worried about their safety. But I had been alone with him when he held me up at knifepoint, and I was basically told to just get on with the job.”

The worker spent nearly a decade employed by the same company - and said that he had been part of a hardworking team that was experienced, working closely with people who had various disabilities.

However problems started to arise when changes were made within the company – which TFN has chosen not to name – and staff were given new directives on how to treat those they were supporting.

“The big thing for me was a change in behaviour towards the people that we were supporting.

“It went from being a people centred organisation to one that almost felt totalitarian.

“When I first joined, we were supporting people to live their lives independently. They were given a say on things like when they took their medication and when they had dinner.

“But it started to change, and the emphasis moved to a focus on treating everyone the same. They were treated as if they had serious learning difficulties, no matter what their issues were.”

The reforms also led to reductions in wages for staff, which had a huge knock-on effect.

“My wages decreased over the years that I was there. We were told that we wouldn’t have a job if we didn’t agree to the changes. Morale was absolutely in the toilet.”

Changes were also made to the amount that staff received for sleepovers, and reduced to a paltry £25 per nightshift by the time the worker left.

“When I started we were paid our hourly rate for sleepovers, or certainly very close to the hourly rate. But by the time I left they had reduced that amount to £25.”

Previously if staff were woken for more than an hour during the night they would be allowed to leave their shift early, but then this changed to staff only being given an early release if they had been woken three times or more. Bosses began to challenge workers to provide details and times of when they were woken.

Slowly effects of the new policies were seen among the people the staff member worked with.

“We were quite a tight team, and the people we supported knew the changes weren’t down to us.

“But they knew whenever the bosses were there and wanted us to ask certain things, looking for answers.

“Most of the people we worked with were more than capable mentally, and didn’t know why they now had to sign lots of pieces of paper for simple things, like saying that a worker had seen them.”

The changes resulted in an exodus of staff members, and replacements were on the whole far less experienced.

“The majority of my colleagues were graduates or had significant life experience. But the money was such that the people being brought in to replace them were often straight out of school or working in supermarkets.

“They were often young, were just getting their own lives sorted but now had to try and help people sort their own problems.”

He said that decent wages not only result in retention of good staff, but also making people value their work, allowing them to focus on helping people.

“I think it is extremely important to pay the right wages, it helps you get the right people in. Often you could be working in risky situations, and you needed to feel motivated to work.”

The worker opted to leave the company in spring of last year, and suffered difficulties following his departure.

“I am still unemployed at the moment,” they said. “I had a bit of a breakdown and I am just getting back into the swing of things now. I’d never go back to frontline care work though.”