mellowred

At the age of 53, and as a British Citizen, I am considering working in the UK for six months or so, with a possible view to returning permanently.

I assume that my South African accounting experience would not count for much in UK as I am not familiar with the tax laws etc.

Working in or running a small pub would be my ideal choice (I have 8 years experience managing a very busy family pub) but there again the UK laws are different. So all I could initially contribute would be management skills and the right disposition for working with staff and patrons.

So, as far as job prospects are concerned, the "easiest" option seems to be joining an agency as a Care Worker for the elderly. Having looked at the requirements for joining an agency, I should pass the grade but do not want to be under the illusion that I can arrive in the UK and easily find a job.

Does anyone here have any experience with this type of work? Or with the agencies? What is the availability of work? One agency advised me to start during the winter months as most overseas workers prefer to go over during the summer months.

Which brings me to another question. Will a Capie survive a British winter? We have cold, wet, windy winters and our homes are designed for summer so it is pretty miserable. BUT would that prepare me for UK winter?

Thanks
Mandy

spouse of scouse

Hi Mandy, can't help with most of your questions I'm afraid, but I'm moving over to the UK soon with my British born husband. I'm 57 and so many people look at me with horror when I tell them of my plans (that's from people in the UK too!)

The fact that I'm happily going from a hot country to one that has comparatively bitter winters is usually what puzzles them most. For me, it'll be a welcome change as I'm well over months and months of heat that make it difficult to leave the airconditioning.

Everyone's different though, and it really depends on how important the weather is to you. I've just taken the attitude that I can always put a warm coat and wellies on if I want to venture outside on a miserable day.

Have you visited the UK at all since you were a baby?

Best of luck, whatever you decide

mellowred

Hi Spouse of Scouse. Thanks for the reply, and I tend to agree with you about the heat. You can't escape it! We don't get a lot of extremely hot days here, maximum is generally in the low 30s with a coastal breeze which means that aircon is not a necessity. But when the temperatures do hit the high 30s/low 40s you tend to pray for winter.

Then winter comes along and without central heating, the loo and rooms that don't have a fireplace or heater are blinking cold.

Have visited UK once when I was about 18. Spent a lovely month between London and Luton visiting family and friends and loved it. Strangely enough, the November before we went over it snowed in Johannesburg, where we were living at the time, and then it snowed in England in April . My understanding is that most homes have double glazing and central heating so it is most likely more comfortable indoors in UK than in SA(?). And as you say you can put a coat on, and invest in a pair of wellies.

Are you Australian? And how much time have you spent in the UK? What is your opinion of life in UK?

I'm concerned I may have some romanticised vision from my mum and dad. But this vision was backed up by the many British "Swallows" I met while working at the pub.

Wishing you all the best with your move.

Editha

I've never worked as a care worker, but I my late father needed care and my mum does now.

The work is very badly paid and the care industry depends on that. Currently, they are saying that if the new 'national living wage' being brought in applies to care workers, many care homes and agencies will go out of business. This is not just a threat, because the profit margins in the industry are very small.

Care workers are often overworked too, not being given enough time to care for their clients properly.

Having said that, a lot of care workers I have met find their work very fulfilling, and it is certainly worthwhile.

Conditions vary in different parts of the country, and so if care work still appeals to you, I suggest you do as much research as possible.

There are qualifications for care work, but you can learn while working, so you should look into that too, if you haven't already.

mellowred

Thanks for the information Editha, sincerely appreciated. I'm surprised that the pay is bad. According to Christie's Care's Website, the live in care workers earn an average of £485 per week. They offer training (which appears to be free) and claim to offer a lot of support. But, as we all know, reading a company's website is not the best method of research.

Considering that this is live-in work and I would be a single, pretty easy-going person with no major needs, what would a livable wage be? Is there clean/cheap boarding house type accommodation in most centers? Is it realistic to look at East Anglia as an area to base myself in?

Many thanks
Mandy

spouse of scouse

Yes, I'm an Aussie living in Perth Western Australia. We have long stretches of 35+ during the summer months, sometimes with the added joy of high humidity, and I'm nowhere near the coast so I boil, bake and roast - some days I reckon you could stick an apple in my mouth and serve me for dinner

Homes in the UK are definitely better set up for the cold weather. I'm in exactly the same boat as you here, it can get really cold in winter, so much so that there's often a thin coating of frost/ice on the grass, windscreens etc, and yes, the loos and bathroom are freezing! Our hot countries don't 'do' cold weather protection very well.

I've visited Liverpool, UK (husband's birthplace and our destination) several times, for up to 3 months at a time. Not long got back after a 7 week visit. I love it! I love the city, the people, the shopping, the nightlife, the culture - I guess you can tell that I just love it

I'm not saying it's Paradise, if such a place even exists. Liverpool has its share of unemployment, dodgy areas, crime, drug use etc. But I like it enough to leave my much loved family and birthplace and move to the other side of the world, so that's good enough for me!

After a lot of research and observation on the comparative cost of living in the two places, I think we'll be able to live more cheaply in Liverpool. Food is cheaper, alcohol is cheaper (just the odd pint ), household necessities are cheaper, and trades and most services are definitely cheaper.

Council tax and petrol are significantly more expensive, around twice the cost. The jury's still out on utilities (gas and electric), I'll have to wait and see when the bills start rolling in.

Thanks for your good wishes, we're just about to put our house here on the market, then I'll apply for my spouse visa. It'll be interesting to follow your journey if you do decide to go back, I'll keep an eye out for your posts

rebeccajo

My husband is a care worker in the US. So we've researched a bit what it takes to translate that career back over to the UK.

Here's a good place to start. As you can immediately see, the live-in wage you've read about is extremely optimistic.

https://nationalcareersservice.direc...assistant.aspx

I do think you are right that getting one of these jobs would be easily enough done. There is always work to be found in direct care, both in the US and the UK. Editha mentioned that many people find the field rewarding. My husband feels that way. But IMO it takes a certain personality. One of the things my husband finds most difficult about the work is the people he works with who should have never taken the job. If you are easy going (as you say) and you have genuine empathy for others, you may be able to successfully navigate this career. But it won't pay a lot, sorry to say.

Editha

The 'national living wage' coming in from April next year will be £7.20 an hour, so £288 for a 40 hour week, but the Care Industry is saying it cannot afford it. So that should give you an idea of how much you will actually be paid.

mellowred

Thanks for the link Editha. It led to other links which provided quite a bit of info. The £485 could be, because it is a live-in position, you are on active duty for more than 40hrs per week. Something to clarifying with any agencies before accepting their website info.

Not that I mind working 24/7; taking on the task of live-in caring for someone is automatically a full time occupation. I just don't want to be fooled into thinking I'll be banking £400 and then receive £288.

Thanks for your response Rebeccajo, and for the informative link. The only experience I have is taking care of my mum for 2 years. The final 8 months were very difficult for her as she was suffering from cancer and lost the use of her right arm. This meant full care of all her personal needs which was very hard for her to accept. But we pulled through and managed together until she passed 4 years ago. I also had to look after my dad for a few months after he underwent a triple heart bypass at the age of 83. Due to his age, he suffered temporary dementia after the op.

Your husband and I could join forces to rid the industry of "those who shouldn't" . Having dealt with nurses that shouldn't, their patronising or rude or uncaring attitudes, have caused my Irish (¼) temper to flare up.

One thing I have learned is that people that need to be looked after are most likely not in want of that care, and it is important to let them feel that they are not totally dependent on you. The dependency was something my mum struggled with; it taught me a lot of diplomacy.

Obviously from both your comments it will be very important to talk to people who are/have worked for care agencies and try to find a good honest one before deciding that it is the line of work to pursue if I do decide to take the leap to the UK.

mellowred

Yep, Spouse of a Scouse it is very evident that you love the UK and very happy that you are moving over with such a happy confident spirit. It can only be the right thing.

Several friends have returned to the UK, and according to all of them, the cost of living is cheaper in the UK than it is here in SA. And they left several years ago, before our electricity provider (Eskom) decided to implement load-shedding whereby we have 2 to 3 hour regional power cuts every couple of days. This creates havoc for all businesses, and has crippled many small businesses. The easiest way for companies to recoup these losses is to push up prices.

Possibly luxury items are more expensive but my limited knowledge leads me to believe that we'd be better off in UK.

Somehow even though I have lived my whole life in Africa, I feel my soul is British. Perhaps that is due to spending several years in Zimbabwe (then Rhodesia) and mixing with predominantly British folk.

Will be following your posts too. Good luck with the sale of the house.

feelbritish

I hear You! As a fellow "Capie" I can tell you that I adapted very well to the UK winters, in fact I loved the seasons and on returning home to CT in August one year when my dad was ill, I was more cold there than I was in England. I also have a couple of good friends who do the care work like you plan to do and they do well out of it. They both live in CT and go over regularly for around 6 months. They also do "living in" positions and from what I hear the companies like employing South Africans because of their work ethic. On their days off they stay a couple of nights with family and friends before going to next job. If you like I could ask one of them the name of the company and you could pm me your details and I will give it to you.

I moved to UK when I was 45 in 1998, best decision it ever was taking all my money and "running"! Now we are retiring back there and plan to spend 3 months every year in CT. BTW my folks used to have a holiday house in Struisbaai when I was younger and we love that area! Good memories.

mellowred

Lovely to read your positive opinion FeelBritish. Will definitely pm my details to you for the company info. Thank you.

We are ±50km from Struisbaai and often take a day trip out there. It is beautiful. Not sure when you were last there, but it has expanded hugely in the past few years. Lots of small service businesses opening, and they also recently acquired a huge hardware shop. Must be a lot of development going on to make that a viable business - and on the few occasions I have shopped there it has been busy and well stocked.

Sometimes wish I had packed and run a decade back. Life here is becoming really tough and I fear falling into a hole that we can't get out of. God forbid that I live here long enough to reach a stage where I can't work anymore.

Looking forward to the company details.

You take care
Mandy

Shirtback

THIS jumped off the page at me.

Do you have family in the UK? Are the friends you have mentioned in other posts working as caregivers/at a similar wage to caregivers?

My step-mother retired early from teaching & has been working as a P-T caregiver since. She does it because she likes helping people even though wages are sh*te, and it gets her out of the house where she was climbing the walls spending all day with my dad.

She doesn't need the money to live on. It's extra, but brings up the household income from frugal level to bearable + a few luxuries.

I'd be extremely cautious about the job you saw advertised at £485/week. Generally (not always) live-in positions have lower salaries because of the accommodation "perk"; I'd want to know what deductions might come off that rate, I.e. what's the take home pay (& what are the accommodations like!!).

What sort of savings cushion do you have?

I hate to rain on other people's parades, but I think you might have unrealistic expectations .

My personal experience of staying with low-income family members in the UK, as far as warm houses in winter goes, is that they sometimes have to ration heat (bills), and it can be darn cold inside regardless of how many sweaters/pairs of socks I put on. And I've been living in Canada for ages.

mellowred

Hi Shirtback. Thanks for the reply. Yep, the lack of personal experience with UK life is an issue. Don't worry, I am not using a whole one month holiday to make any decisions regarding a move

The limited family that I have live in the South West region, but because my parents divorced when I was six I lost regular contact with my Dad's family and my Mum was not particularly close to hers. I have infrequent contact with my uncle (Mum's side).

I do have a few friends in UK (and several good acquaintances) but want to have a clearer idea of whether making the move is a good idea before discussing it with them. Two of them are British and have moved back during the past five years (they are not connected to each-other). She is a single mum in her 40s and he is in his late 50s. She knows it is the best move she could have made. He also says it was for the best, but he does miss SA.

The £485pw wage is quoted as an average by "Christie's Care" which is a private agency. The only personal feedback I have received from caregivers is from a few acquaintances in Hermanus. Three ladies were doing the six month per year trip, and were all happy with it. Unfortunately, I can't remember their names, but with a bit of a search could possibly find them again.

My main reason for thinking of moving to UK is total financial insecurity in South Africa. Which brings me to your question about savings ... nope I have none. and cannot see accumulating any in the current situation we are in.

We are in a small village and our business makes enough for us to exist on. Being in this village is the real problem, but moving the workshop is going to cost close on R40,000 + another R30,000 to R50,000 to cover running costs while we establish a business elsewhere. With the economic situation here we may never recoup that cost.

I turn 53 in November, so am unemployable in SA. And salaries are a joke in this region (within 50km radius) a bookkeeper gets between R3,000 and R7,000 pm. The earnings from my few clients is higher than that (b.t.w. I would initially arrange to keep the clients as most of the work is done remotely).

Wow, that was a long session. Sorry to have to put you through my life story, but it's hard to explain things without ... well ... explaining things

Pica

[QUOTE=Shirtback;11730874]THIS jumped off the page at me.



I'd be extremely cautious about the job you saw advertised at £485/week. Generally (not always) live-in positions have lower salaries because of the accommodation "perk"; I'd want to know what deductions might come off that rate, I.e. what's the take home pay (& what are the accommodations like!!).

What sort of savings cushion do you have?

QUOTE]


To the OP - do you have any qualifications at all in care work? Experience will get you nowhere other than minimum wage- if you're lucky. This isn't the sort of job that you can "waltz" into. There has been a great deal of whistle blowing recently about the appalling standards of care in homes for elderly/ disabled/emi etc.
qualifications ( which can be acquired whilst working) will be important and it's possible that you'll need to bear the cost of acquiring them yourself.
Utility bills will be hefty on a low wage eg Water- £40.00 a month.
However, good luck with your plans and I hope you make it work.