In the normal day-to-day live-in care job having a two-hour break is accepted as part of the carer agreement. In fact, it is also a legal requirement that a total of 14 hours per week should be allocated to the carer as a rest time.
With the coronavirus, many things about live-in care have changed and your break will certainly be one of them.
Before self-isolation many clients had different carers coming to the house to relieve the live-in carer and stay with them so that they were not alone. It may have been one regular carer or several, depending on the agency they worked for, so you may have had a different carer every day while you took your break.
With self-isolation and quarantine, most visiting carers will have been stopped. If they have not been stopped, it may be a good idea to do this as they are now a huge risk to your client and yourself.
Unfortunately, stopping a relief carer coming in means that you either get no break or must spend your time in your room or the garden if there is one. For the foreseeable future you will not get to go out as much as you previously did, and even if your client can be left alone you will still be ‘at hand’ for the entire day.
So, should you charge for those breaks?
This is a very grey area, it always has been, and will be even more so now. Many live-in carers with clients who do not need around the clock work will in normal times, find that they have time on their hands. The job may be far less demanding than other placements where continued presence is needed. In fact, some carers may even be bored with all the ‘down time.’
In cases like these it hardly seems fair to charge for a break you cannot have because you generally get heaps of free time during the day. You may have more free time than you know what to do with and charging for a break you cannot take now seems almost greedy.
For carers in this position it may be best if you did not add extra charges to your weekly bill for breaks that you cannot take. This can be seen by the bill-payer as a way to make extra money.
Bear in mind that most family members truthfully know when their loved one is hard work for the carer and when they are relatively easy, and should you ask for more money it might be in your disfavour, and they may look for another carer.
On the other hand..
As many live-in carers will testify, there are some clients who need lots of attention, both medical and physical. A client with advanced Dementia will need constant supervision while an elderly, frail client may not be able to be left alone in case of falls.
With the lockdown these live-in carers may find that there is now no break and no respite through the day. Should you charge for breaks?
This becomes a personal decision but generally, if you cannot get some time to yourself and must work, you are entitled to charge for that time. Any reasonable business will pay staff for overtime and working through your break is no different.
You are perfectly within your rights to ask to be paid. The amount should be agreed with your agency, but this can range from £5 - £10 per hour.
Naturally, the person who pays your wages may not see things this way and if this is the case you must discuss it with both them and your agency.
To sum up
Whether you charge for breaks which you cannot take is a personal matter and will be different in each placement.
What is important is that you weigh up the work load you find yourself under before deciding to ask for pay. Speak to the family or bill payer, as well as your agency before you implement anything.
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