For a new live-in carer this is a question which you may ask. You could certainly be thinking about it in the ‘quiet’ season when there seem to be more carers than clients.

When you find yourself constantly calling the agency to see if they have found you another placement it can get a little stressful. Not only do you need to find somewhere to stay between placements, you also need to feed yourself and possibly pay your own bills. Being without a placement can be frightening and you may well consider joining a second agency.

So, can you work for more than one agency?

If you are classed as self-employed, then yes, you can work for a second or even a third agency, if you choose to. Being self-employed means that you can in fact work for as many as you like.

If you are employed by the agency, this is something that you will need to clear with them first. Most agencies who directly employ their live-in carers do not permit you to work elsewhere. They provide you with work and may also accommodate your if they fail to do so. So, understandably they will want you to keep working for them.

Pros of working for several agencies

There are some definite advantages to working with more than one agency.

• More potential work in the ‘quiet’ season. Having your name on several agency lists means that you stand more change of being offered work. This may also be to cover emergency bookings where another carer has become ill and needs time off. Theoretically you could be offered as much work as you can handle.
• You can choose your placement. If you are offered placements that you really do not want to do, you have other agencies who could offer you alternative placements, so you can choose between tow placements and pick the one that suits you best.

Cons of working several agencies 

• You must be very organised. If you are not, you will find yourself getting confused between where you are going, how to get there, at what time to arrive and how long the handover takes.
• You may lose out on paid travel expenses. By staying with one agency your travel between placements is covered by the placement you are going to. Normally with an agency your leaving travel is paid by the next placement. If you are not going to a placement with that agency you may find that you are asked to cover travel expenses yourself.
• Agencies will see you as unreliable. If you start to refuse too many placements because another agency offers you a better deal, you may find that you are not offered as many bookings as you may want because you seem to be turning them down frequently. While working with several agencies may be advantageous in the beginning, you may find less work offers from them.

To sum up

While we do not want to think that an agency may put us on the ‘unreliable’ list, there are some agencies who will certainly offer you less work because they know you are working for another company. Unfortunately, this does happen, as many carers will tell you.

Working for several agencies is worth thinking about when work is scarce and if you can please both agencies most of the time. Working for two or even more may work out for you.

As a new live-in carer, you may want to stay with one agency until you know your way around the live-in care world before you rock that boat and possibly find yourself working less or even out of work.

Tags:

1

Go Back to Previous Page

Live in care jobs