When you arrive at a placement, it is accepted that you have a detailed description of all you are supposed to do. This description will outline your daily tasks and include things such as laundry, shopping, light housework etc.

While most carers will simply carry on with the required tasks, things may have changed over the lockdown months.

Some live-in carers will have been with their clients for several months without a break.  Unfortunately, the lockdown may also have meant that other people could not come to the house. Housekeepers may not have arrived, and gardeners may also not have come around.

Where does that leave you, as the live-in carer?

It leaves you right in the middle of a discussion of who gets to take over these issues now. You may find yourself in the middle of family or next of kin conversations about the ‘extra time’ you have on your hands and the extra work they would like you to do.

If no-one comes to the house to clean and keep the garden maintained, you may feel like you are being coerced into taking on extra duties.

You may even have been informed that ‘since you are there’, you should lend a hand and keep things going until the regular cleaning lady or gardener comes back.

What can you do about this?

Your contract will have described your daily routine, so you will know what is expected of you even before you arrive at a placement.

It may seem that the idea of you taking on more work is based on the fact that you may not go out for your break as often as you used to and therefore spend more time with mom. Why should you not then do some extra work?

This is a very mild form of carer abuse if you think about it. It is taking advantage of your good nature and trying to make you feel guilty about not picking up the cleaning or gardening.

One way to handle this is to put it to the family or whoever pays your wages, that you would like to get paid for those services. The cleaning lady probably gets about £18 per hour and the gardener about £25 per hour, so if you are expected to take those jobs on, it is right that you are paid.

Obviously, this will not go down well with some people and may create tension between you and family, so if you choose to do this, expect them to be unhappy with your suggestion.

If you are expected to take on more cleaning and not be paid, you may consider shutting some rooms in the house and only using the ones that are essential. These, as a carer, you can be expected to keep clean. Others which are not used, can be shut up until the cleaning lady returns.

Gardening may be an entirely different issue. Not everyone enjoys this, particularly when they are not paid for it. This is something that you can discuss with family and possibly put your foot down and refuse.  With the easing of lockdown, gardeners can be arranged again.

To sum up

It is highly likely that you will have been asked to do extra through lockdown and it is up to you what you do about it. Naturally, being paid for those services is the ideal situation, although it may not happen.

Whether you choose to simply get on and pick up extra unpaid work, or whether you approach family to ask to be paid, is up to you. This should be done with tact and diplomacy so that you spend the remainder of your time with your client without tension between you.

It is a very grey area and needs to be handled with care and sensitivity. You may compromise and do a little more, although at the end of the day, you are being asked to work for free, which is, unfortunately, taking advantage of you.

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