POLICIES & DOCUMENTATION

What a self-employed carer can expect from Elder

Learn what you can expect once you’ve passed our suitability screening and joined the Elder platform. 

streamline the customer experience at a difficult time with Elder

FOR SELF-EMPLOYED CARERS

Introduction

This document outlines what a Self-Employed Carer can expect from Elder once approved on the Elder platform. We want to ensure your experience using the Elder platform is positive and long-lasting. Our goals are to support you in finding placements that meet your needs, that you will always be properly compensated for the care you provide and that you receive support when needed from our dedicated team.

Elder has developed a separate set of minimum standards expected of Self-Employed Carers accepted onto the platform which can be found here. 

1) Pay: As Elder increasingly offers more types of care placements, we encourage you to check placement information when reviewing work opportunities on the hub as each placement pays different amounts. On the hub, on your preferences page, you will be able to specify between, ‘live-in care’, ‘visiting care’, ‘ongoing placements’ and ‘fixed-length placements’.

Payments will be prorated if you work less than a full week. This rate will be higher if you’re caring for a couple or caring through the night. You should be able to see the weekly rate on the placement advert before you apply.  

If you are a live-in carer you’ll also get double pay on any bank holiday you work, and we’ll cover your travel costs to and from your placement. Bank holidays paid are dependent upon the jurisdiction in which you are working. 

We regularly review the market and are responsive to feedback. From listening to carers on our platform, we have kept our travel policy and pay rates at the heart of our carer value proposition.

2) Support: The Elder team is here to support you as much as possible. We’re passionate about helping to facilitate quality, person centred-care for Care Recipients and delivering a great service for carers on our platform.

Through the Elder hub you’ll be able to access our HelpCentre where you can find a selection of supporting documentation and answers to frequently asked questions about working on the Elder platform. If you require further assistance you can email us at [email protected] or by using the chat feature on your Elder hub.

Whilst working on placement if you are ever concerned about the safety of a client or think that there is any chance that there is an emergency, it is essential you call 999 (for any emergencies) or 111 (for non-emergency matters) as soon as possible. Once it is safe to do so, please update your client’s family on what has happened. Elder support you with a 24/7 emergency hotline, though it is important that this number should only be used in emergency cases and after calling 999 or 111 and updating the customer.

3) Loyalty Plan: We’ve teamed up with Onsi to provide a wide range of rewards from trusted external providers. 

If you are a live-in carer, you become eligible to join our loyalty programme after you’ve delivered one day of care in the last 6 months. The registration process is simple and won’t take longer than a couple of minutes. Once you’re registered as a member of Onsi, you’ll be able to view fantastic cost-saving deals, from a range of discounts on goods and services including groceries and fuel. Members of Onsi will also be eligible to claim sick pay, mental health support, and access to e-learning.

4) Supporting your rights as a Self-Employed Carer: e.g. leaving a placement, freedom from abuse, working within your competencies: In order to protect the safety of our clients and maintain the quality of our service, Elder keeps a record of all incidents that are reported via our Care Logs and Incident Reporting tools. This also helps us support carers and clients when relevant.

Whilst on a placement, you can record care logs and report incidents via the Elder hub, keeping families and Elder in the loop. We encourage the recording of any incident, no matter how minor, for Customer review. Care logs and reported incidents will be immediately visible to both Elder and the Care Recipient’s family. You should also inform the Customer immediately via whichever communication methods you have both agreed are best. All incidents brought to Elder’s attention relating to Care Recipients are reviewed by our Clinical team. 

You will be able to view entries made by previous carers. This tool should be used to familiarise yourself with the client’s current circumstances.  

Elder monitors placement feedback for quality assurance purposes.