care assistant

care coordinator

community care worker

field supervisor

senior care assistant

Comfort Call

When I applied for this position on a job website and having a phone and then a face to face interview, at all times, they informed me that the job I was applying for was for a fulltime position. Not once did they notify me until I handed in my notice to my previous job and completed their unpaid training that I would be handed a zero-hour contract.
I do not know who is in charge of advertising new positions within Comfort Call, but the job advert is falsely advertising fulltime and parttime positions. Comfort Call job adverts are still advertising for fulltime and parttime positions without any hint that it is for a zero hour position until you are handed the contract. 

Once I started the job again I was concerned, they initially told me working hours are broken down into four segments, morning (7 am-11 am), lunch (11 am-3 pm), dinner (3 pm- 7 pm), and beds (7 pm- 11 pm). However, from the get-go, they had me booked down to start work at 6 am sometimes 5:40 am. All Calls expect the bed calls started earlier than they stated to me. The false start times were told to me on my phone and in my face to face interview. 
I also found on my shifts that they would have me work from morning to evening starting at 6 am and finishing at 11:30 pm with no travel time between calls (so they can give me as many shifts as possible), and also having no breaks. They would also have me work the very next day, starting work at 6am. I informed my coordinator that I would like to keep my entitlements as an employee having appropriate breaks and rest periods between shifts. I was met with resistance, and I had to fight for my entitlements as an employee which is unacceptable. One day where I was working all day (6 am-11 pm working over 12 hours), I had a free hour at lunch, so I could recharge and eat some food and rehydrate, less than 2 hours notice they filled the slot, so I had no break all day. I asked my coordinator to remove them as I would like to keep my entitled breaks, but she refused to give me my breaks. I was only able to get a break because another carer saw how wrong it was and told me they would take some of my shifts so I could have a break. 

Often I am given less than a week's notice of when they need me to work, but when I inform them that I am unable to do those hours due to doctor appointments for my wife and child and other appointments for myself I am instantly met with hostility and doubt from the office of the reasons I gave. I told them I need to know what my shifts are in a week's advance (which I was told in my training that this would happen) as my availability changes week to week, but constantly rotas are not fully complete. 

During this current lockdown, I acquired COVID 19 symptoms and immediately told my place of work and was able to get an isolation note. Halfway through my isolation, a member from the office rang me up and tried to bully me into working while I was meant to be isolating. 
I asked the manager multiple times for the contact details for HR so that I can ask for guidance and help because of the difficult working conditions, but the Sheffield Comfort Call office refused to give me their number or email. 

When I had made a mistake at work I was called by the office on which they berated me and instantly accused me of doing it on purpose, I was new to the job and the care industry. I always strive to improve my services so when I tried to ask a question to help me understand what I did wrong and how to improve at my job, they just hang up on me.   

I sent in a formal complaint to the business but it was ignored.

I started this job a bit over a year ago and I thought the wage and everything was great, until they changed the managers. Everything became the carer’s fault and rules could be bent whenever it suited the managers in the office. I never used to get crammed with calls when we had the other managers, but for the past few months I have always been crammed with calls. One night I was working doubles and we had around 14 bed calls, all of which were mainly 30 minute calls, and this proves that the office can bend rules when they desire as there is absolutely no duty of care put in place there, but then when we try to complete all of those calls we got complained at for rushing!? When we brought it up, they just said “oops office’s mistake” and laughed it off but this has been a repetitive problem. 

Additionally, whenever they are low on staff and they ask if you could pick up extra shifts but you decline, they ask “why?”, like we have to have a reason to refuse to pick up the shift but we are allowed to refuse and have time off work (or so I thought).

Another problem is whenever I go into the office, the managers sometimes talk about the carers working there and laugh at them. It is absolutely disgraceful, I sort of wonder what they say about me sometimes. 

If you are a driver applying to this role, be prepared to drive from one side of Rotherham to the other as they send you to some ridiculous places. We don’t even get paid per mileage and the calls are placed back to back so there isn’t even any travelling time. 

The only positive thing I can think about is some of the service users are lovely and make your day better with just a smile. Too bad that the office is such a problem though. 

I know all branches are different but NEVER work for the Stockton branch!!!! 
They would hire a monkey if they could firstly and throw you in at the deep end, nothing you are taught in your bs training is actually valid at work they do not let you stick to it and you have no choice other then to break training policies. 
You have a 0 hour contract and you will be out 7am-11pm most days you are working howeveryou will have hour/ hour and half breaks in between calls - this is NOT for your benefit this is because the office staff don’t care about making your rota convenient for you. 
The office do not accept days off requests or even evenings off you work whenever they want you to, you will receive your rota but still can’t make plans as they can text you at any time and give you more calls. NO work life valence at all. Also no support from anyone very lonely. The most senior member of staff I met worked there for 6 months and this is because it is impossible to stay. They also had an ‘issue’ with pay, and lots of us only got paid 64% of our wage alone month and had to fight to get it back. 3 pays I got and I had to fight and get in touch with head office to be paid what I was owed each time. 
You are also not allowed days off sick, working with ill patients you are taught in training you cannot be around truer while you are ill. I had a sickness bug one day and told them I couldn’t work, they made me saying no one would be at these calls all day and to just do a few and they would get my afternoon covered. I was throwing up in service users gardens!!! I worked 7.30am-10.15pm that day.

Only apply for this job if your are desperate.  The management have no clue what they are doing, they say the job is full time then give you 10 hours a week. The unpaid "training" consists of sitting in a room for five days and copying notes of a power point. They give you ZERO time to get from call to call, so even if you drive you still end up being late to every single call, which isn't fair on the carer or the client.  If you walk I would stay far away from this job, you will be extremely late to your calls because they expect you to get from here to there in zero minutes. If your in for a full day you will spend more time walking from house to house, than you will actually in calls. They will expect you to go to someones house for the first time and wash them and give personal care, which again isn't fair on the carer or the client. They are constantly giving you extra calls because people are always leaving, clients have even complained about this to me as they are always being given new carers. If you finish at 10pm at night they will expect you to start again at 6.45am the next morning. The hourly pay may seem like a lot , however the majority of your calls are 15-30 minutes long, so you actually don't end up making as much money as you think you would. To sum up, don't waste your time here and apply for another care company that actually cares about their employees and clients.

Started working here 2019. From day 1 has been horrible. When still training they send you on individual calls. Over work you, do not pay you the mileage if you are a driver, even after telling them they do not care. Expect you to go from one area to the other with 5 minute notice. The office staff speak to you like you’re dirt and they’re above. Known to treat staff with illnesses/pregnant to complete tasks that are a health risk to them. Change your rota constantly without telling you, expect you to know by looking 24/7 at phones. Take no care for service users requirement such as health risks and times they prefer/require. Expect you to work 24/7 or on command like an animal. Give you zero travel time that is realistic.  No time for breaks, as they fill any free time with calls. If you are a walker it’s practically slavery. The office get moody if you decline extra calls and then make rude comments whenever you call or if you tell them to take off extra calls as you don’t have enough time for a break or enough time to get to calls . Data protection is non existent in this company all care staff know other care staffs gossip and service users know other service users gossip and addresses etc. Do not work for them and stay well clear from them! Worst company ever! Staff in the office is vile! Management are rubbish, always say will investigate but never do!

I started there and was told I would get every other weekend off. That didn’t happen even if you had days off you would be hounded with calls to come in and help if you said no they would make you feel incredibly guilty. I requested a specific schedule as I was studying at university the hours in which they agreed to, I would get constant texts, emails and phone calls whilst in lectures to come away from university and help out because someone had called in sick. If you refused to work overtime your next schedule would be very very few hours (zero hour contract) expanded an area of 15 miles to 30 miles so they wouldn’t have to pay mileage as you were still in ‘one’ area. Got phone calls whilst I was out of the country on my weekend off demanding I come in and help with the night time calls.. would expect you to be ending a call at 4:30 and magically appearing at the other end of town at 4:30 and if you were five minutes late you got a arrogant phone call about it. Never accepted any holiday requests, sorry accepted one but told me originally it had been rejected then gave me the holiday two days before the date so it was too late to actually go on the holiday.Overall horrific place to work. Don’t do it! I was desperate for a job and I still quit.

Overworked, underpaid, under appreciated, no support, no time off, no pay for travel time. 

I worked in the care profession for 2 years before working here and I loved those 2 years. When I started at Comfort Call I was so positive. I survived 4 months and it was so damaging to my mental and physical health. 4 months, I quit care for good. I haven't gone back. 

 You only get paid for the time you spend in the service users home. You can spend 20 hours a week walking from call to call and you will not get a penny for it. 

No support. My first week working solo and I had to ring an ambulance for an old lady who fell. I spent over an hour at the 15 minute medication call, I followed protocol and did my job but Comfort Call weren't happy with me being late for my next call.  They wouldn't even cover my next call.

No time off, it's like pulling teeth to get any time off. I wasn't even able to rearrange my calls to get one hour off to visit a family member.  

You don't get to enjoy your days off your rota. You will get constant phone calls asking you to work on your day off. They don't care if you're not working that day.

Most days I'd start at 7am and finish around 10:30pm but thank the Lord for those random 4 hours of free time in the afternoon while you get ready for your evening calls.

The job itself is some what rewarding however, this company does not allow you to provide quality care as carers are expected to be at multiple places at once, this then infuriates service users as they are promised a time and carers are constantly running late as they are not able to be in up to 3 places at once, office staffs answer to this is to ‘cut call times down’ this company was a massive eye opener fhat demonstated it is all money orientated. Office staff are extremely rude , unprofessional and unreasonable. Handed my notice in and they refused me any work until my official leave date out of pure nastiness spite. When this behaviour was challenged by myself and tried to get an explanation as to why this happened managesment brushed it under the carpet like they do with every other problem and believe me there is plenty of them! there was times i had worked 12 hours without a single break. It is beyond me how CQC have not shut down this company! P.S if you are stupid enough to work here do not upet the office staff or challenge them about problems as you will be penalised and have little or no work the following week so good luck! Only the supervisors who bumkiss there way into the uniform get priority over work

I would strongly caution anyone, especially international staff needing sponsorship, to think very carefully before joining this company. From my experience, there is little genuine support for workers who require visa sponsorship. You may dedicate your time and effort with the hope of stability, only to realise that sponsorship is not a priority. This creates constant uncertainty and makes your hard work feel pointless. Management, in my opinion, shows very little concern for staff wellbeing. At times, you may be asked to work across different postcodes without adequate consideration for the practical burden. Travel costs are not always covered, which adds financial strain on top of an already demanding role. The workload can be overwhelming, and the pay does not always reflect the level of responsibility and pressure placed on staff. It often feels like being overworked and undervalued. Most concerning is the sense that employees are treated as easily replaceable. If your visa situation becomes complicated or your leave is approaching expiry, do not expect understanding or flexibility. The impression I had was that staff are viewed more as numbers than as people. Based on my personal experience, I would not recommend working here.

I work for this company for nearly two years now I think this jobs is the best job I ever had but not as good as you think especially at the office, with the organisation is been very poor and the time are absolutely wasted on your rota, you hardly have time for yourself with all of this phone calls every hour and again try to give you an extra call. The reason why some new starters leave it's because they didn't get a proper training especially when shadowing, they need professional supervisor to come out and trained all the new carers so they know exactly what to do or know what to do, and why new starters have to do shadowing with the carer when the office don't even realise that some carer are not even good at the job and don't even know how to explain to the new starters and now most of the new carers are not very good at the job and didn't do job properly, the office need someone who knows the location and areas!! not sending every carers to all over the place. I'm glad that I never been a walker from the beginning....
Start from 7am until 10:30pm and you only got 6 hour out of the day and they don't pay for traveling which is waste of time and think about it...it's against the law, by the time you get home have something to eat shower go to bed you only got 5hours sleep or maybe 4!!!

Top Job Titles	Average salary
Care assistant 192 salaries reported	£12.76 per hour
Care coordinator 7 salaries reported	£25,153 per year
Community care worker 6 salaries reported	£12.50 per hour
Field supervisor 3 salaries reported	£13.36 per hour
Senior care assistant 1 salary reported	£12.67 per hour

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