care assistant

caregiver

registered manager

field supervisor

care coordinator

Helping Hands

What is the best part of working at the company?

The best part of working at Helping Hands is the support you receive from both the office team and your fellow carers. The office staff are genuinely helpful, approachable, and always willing to listen. Whether it’s sorting out rotas, answering questions, or providing guidance, they’re quick to respond and make you feel valued.

There’s a real sense of teamwork — you’re never made to feel like you’re on your own, even though domiciliary care can be independent work. The communication between carers and the office is strong, and that gives you confidence when you’re out in the community.

I also appreciate how focused the company is on providing quality, person-centred care. You’re encouraged to build meaningful relationships with clients and make a real difference in their daily lives. It’s rewarding to know you’re supported while doing such important work.

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
The most stressful part of working in domiciliary care can be managing time when travelling between calls, especially if there is unexpected traffic or changes to the rota at short notice. Because you genuinely care about your clients, you want to make sure you’re giving each person the time and attention they deserve, so balancing tight schedules can sometimes feel pressured.

It can also be emotionally challenging at times, particularly when supporting clients with complex needs or when someone’s health declines. However, the support from the office team and other carers does help during those moments.

Overall, while the role can be demanding, it’s also incredibly rewarding.


What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
The work environment is supportive, professional, and focused on delivering high-quality, person-centred care. Even though domiciliary care means working independently in the community, there is still a strong sense of teamwork. The office staff are approachable and responsive, and you can always reach out if you need guidance or support.

The culture encourages respect  both for clients and for staff. Carers are treated as valued members of the team, and there’s an understanding of how important our role is. Communication is clear, rotas are organised as efficiently as possible, and there’s a shared goal of making a positive difference in people’s lives.

Overall, it’s a caring environment where compassion, professionalism, and teamwork are genuinely prioritised.

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
A typical day starts with checking my rota and preparing for my scheduled calls. I travel between clients’ homes, supporting them with personal care, medication, meal preparation, and general daily tasks depending on their individual care plans.

Each visit is different, which keeps the role interesting. Some clients need more physical support, while others mainly appreciate companionship and reassurance. I make sure to follow care plans carefully while also building positive relationships so clients feel comfortable and respected.

Throughout the day, I update records and communicate with the office if there are any changes or concerns. Although it can be busy, it’s rewarding knowing you’ve made a difference in someone’s day by helping them remain independent in their own home.

No two days are exactly the same, which is one of the things I enjoy most about the role.

To start with I loved my role here, great support and encouragement, some great fellow carers and lovely clients. The flexible work hours also meant work fitted round my busy life as a mum and my other commitments, but I was still able to fulfill my desire to provide care for others, I thought, this is perfect! 
I was inspired to become a carer after losing my mum a year before applying for my role at Helping hands and I had drive to progress and aim for NVQ’s eventually as a gateway to become a nurse.
However, no sign of starting on NVQ’s were offered and things changed after I kept becoming too poorly to work at times due to severe stress, other work loads and personal life, being a mum and generally overworking myself. As a result I unfortunately had to cut down my availability on how often I worked for helping hands. During these times, I felt the Office team didn’t fully believe that I was unwell, they didn’t seem understanding and the support and communication dynamics seemed to change drastically towards me from this point which I found shocking.
Also certain Information via a email between myself and the office which should have been kept confidential was also shared with other carers as they asked me about it.
Just before the end of my time here I became unwell yet again due to my husband having to go on antidepressants due to several severely traumatic events in his life, which due to the stress, this caused me to be poorly and run down which meant I was out of action again for a few days. I had told the office that there is a lot going on in my life but they didn’t seem interested.
When I was well again and I had contacted the office first thing on my day I was due to work to inform them I was well to work again that evening, I was told my calls got given to another carer. This was a week before my last day of my nine months here.
I havent written this review lightly, but I feel details such as these and the unprofessionalism at times need to be brought to light.
There is also favouritism that goes on with some of the full time carers, which tends to leave some of the part time carers at the bottom of the pile. 
I had high expectations when I first saw the Helping Hands motto; ‘our foundation is kindness’ and the fact that helping hands have been caring for over 30 years, I had a vision for my future, but sadly I didn’t feel valued at the end of my time here by the office, I felt almost discarded, I didn’t even get a farewell or a card when I left.
I will continue to be a carer elsewhere to follow my dream closer to home and with less big gaps between calls as I feel such pride to make a difference to people’s lives and I love what I do, but unfortunately my face didn’t fit this agency franchise.
Life is all about learning from different experiences and I wish all the wonderful clients and my former colleagues all the best in the future! 

I recently completed the training week in Alcester,  which I thought was quite substantial, in comparison to another large nationwide company i had previously worked for. I completed all the paperwork in relation to my preferences. My first placement was organised last minute, cancelled on the day I was to start. HH offered me another placement - although this was completely opposite to my stated preferences and less money.

My first day was not very professional. I had to arrive at placement seven hours prior to my initial shift beginning for a thirty minute handover between a manager, the client's family and myself - in which I was basically ignored. The family were not made aware that I was to live-in the clients home as the drive was two hours from home. I identified gaps in the care provided of at least three hours per day - which weren't addressed. So much so, that two hours before I was due to start, the client had no care (which I fulfilled without pay on more than one occasion).

Over the course of my tenure, I received no communication from either a manager or care coordinator, bar one email for a meeting at the clients home that wasn't followed up after I replied. I was informed by the client's family that my services weren't required as their circumstances for affording the care had changed. I e-mailed this information to my care coordinator and received no response. On the journey home on my last day, I was contacted "How my placement was proceeding?" To which I responded, my placement had ended - which HH had already been informed previously by both myself and the client...

A day after I returned home, I received a voicemail offering emergency night care for the following day - no mention of the previous placement. As I didn't respond for this reason - HH have failed to communicate with me further. No phone calls/email. 

They only care about filling placements. 
They fail to communicate with care staff. 
They ignore a carers preferences - offering care placements strictly on the basis what's easier for them to provide. 

All in all, I am highly dissatisfied with HH, as their professional attitude during the training week in Alcester was completely opposite to the working relationship they offer once you have completed the required training.

Typical Day at Work
A typical day as a live-in carer involves supporting the client with their daily routine while ensuring their comfort, safety, and dignity. This includes personal care, meal preparation, medication reminders, light household duties, and companionship. I also assist with mobility where needed and ensure the client’s emotional and social needs are met. Each day is structured 
around the client’s preferences, which helps maintain a sense of normality and independence in their home.
What I Believe I Learned
Through this role, I have learned the importance of patience, empathy, and adaptability. Every client is different, and I have developed strong communication 
skills to understand both verbal and non-verbal needs. I have also gained valuable experience in time management, problem-solving, and providing person-centred care while respecting boundaries and routines.
Management
Management has been supportive and professional, providing clear guidance and regular communication. I feel comfortable raising concerns or asking for advice when needed. The support from the care coordinators helps ensure that both the client’s needs and my wellbeing as a carer are taken seriously.
Workplace Culture
The workplace culture promotes respect, compassion, and professionalism. Carers are encouraged to deliver high-quality care while maintaining a positive attitude. There is a strong emphasis on dignity, safeguarding, and treating clients as individuals rather than tasks, which creates a rewarding and ethical working environment.
The Hardest Part of the Job
The most challenging part of being a live-in carer is the emotional and physical demands of the role, particularly when supporting clients with complex needs or declining health. Being away from my own home for extended periods can also be challenging, but good planning and support help manage this.
The Most Enjoyable Part of the Job
The most enjoyable part of the job is building a meaningful relationship with the client and knowing that my support makes a real difference in their daily life. Helping someone remain independent in their own home and seeing improvements in their comfort, mood, or confidence is extremely rewarding and gives a strong sense of purpose.


Co-ordinators have a bully mentality and practically push you into doing placements you do not want to do and offer no other placements. I hadn’t been offered work in almost four months and had to look for a different company. I was told they didn’t have any placements in the whole of England and they offered me one in wales which I refused many times. 

Lack of communication as the co-ordinators would offer same placements that are either incompatible with me. I was offered a placement in a Muslim household and told that no meat is allowed although I am a meat eater. As respect for myself and the client I declined the offer.  The company has no clue what they are doing and secretly steal from you. I was told that they do no pay for travel in certain areas and if you have a permanent placement they do not pay. When I called to question this new policy the people in office couldn’t even give me a proper explanation. Now I have found that they do in fact pay as I know people in the company who have not come across this issue. 

The company basically make up the rules as the go along. On the day of leaving placement you are also not paid but you work until 2pm even longer depending when the incoming carer is arriving to handover. I once had a placement in which I did not sleep for almost twenty fours because of the client which they failed to properly assess. Sometimes the tell you the bare minimum information on clients as they seem to become frustrated when you do no automatically accept a placement. So you go in blind and hope for the best. You are stranded once you arrive in the placement and you find it’s not what was in the client profile or the co-ordinators lied or omitted important details to get you to go because they know no one would otherwise accept.

Awful company through management to subordinates. You are also paid for one person if you are looking after two clients but they try to say you are only really looking after one which is a lie. I have worked here for almost two years and you’re lucky to work with a district that is competent.

I worked at HH for two years from 2018-2020 therefore, my experience may not be a current reflection of how this company is today.

However, I can say overall HH was a great company to work for. The best? no. But no care agency is without it's flaws. There's lots of room for growth and career change within the company, the hours are flexible and there is always work available. The training was brilliant, fun, and from what I remember, free.
I worked both as a live-in carer and in domiciliary care. 

live-in care provided me with more work stability, once my clients were booked I knew exactly where I'd be working, how long for and the salary id make. My Travel was paid for and lunch was free (£40 weekly shop budget). The carer I would be taking over from would always greet me and the coordinators would always check I got to the client safely. 

Domiciliary care was a bit of a mess, there is no guaranteed rota or client. If a Client cancelled in advance you wouldn't get paid and a replacement client often couldn't be given in time. I would also be sent to clients who lived more than 45mins-1 hour apart from each other and given a 30min window to arrive there, which meant I was often late to a double-up call and constantly in a rush. Management were a little pushy but always available to help and genuinely cared for the clients. Travel was not free.

To compare salaries, in one week of Domicilary care I would make anything from £100 - £400.
Where in one week of live-in care I'd make between £550 - £700. It really depends on your availability and what fits right with you. 

Overall, I wouldn't discourage anyone from working for HH in either Domicilary care or Live-in. I can't say what they are like today, but they are a stable company built for growth. I'd recommend them to anyone who's just getting started.
 

My time of working with Colchester branch was nothing short of horrific. Managers would ignore my days off (and would constantly contact me to work on those  days). In addition, rota us in to work earlier than requested. They would fill rota with calls to the point that it was unrealistic to fulfill visits in a timely manner. I was pressurised to work with a highly contagious customer. I was dumped into the role without any supervisory meetings to reassure me within my role. They would assign me to visits far outside my catchment (which meant that I lost alot of money regardless of if I was being paid 19p per mileage). They say that they take care of their employees first but they are more concerned about achieving their targets. The demands of the role is not realistic and is guaranteed to induce stress on anyone working within the role. In trying to expand so quickly they are bringing down the quality of service that a careworker can give to the customer. Training is rushed and can easily be forgotten once out working with customers. This increases risk of making mistakes, especially with MAR chart and medication. I would receive about £40 per day for working 7 hours (this factors in driving etc). My visits on rota were placed too close together or too far apart which meant I was always late for visits or having to wait around between visits. They promoted their favourite members of the team and in the process discouraged the rest of the team. Promotion is necessary but acknowledge, encourage and reward everyone (even if it's just a box of chocolates for team).  Let them know 'you see them.' The customers that I worked for were the highlight of my job. It was so fulfilling to know that I was making a difference in their lives.

This company used to be brilliant with fantastic and supportive management .Then they restructured and now it’s all about how much money they can make. The care coordinators run the branches and do all the dirty work whilst the managers do very little for nearly double the care coordinators salary ,the managers also get a very generous bonus on top of their generous salary and the other office members get nothing.  You are not valued as an office member at all and the managers blame everything on the care cos and lower members of staff. Higher management don’t care if the managers are rubbish at their jobs as they need a manager registered at all the branches to comply with CQC. They would rather ignore complaints about managers than get rid of them. The Chichester manager was devious and dishonest, she was insecure, selfish and nothing was ever her fault. She accepted awards for the branch on her own making sure she got all the credit and kept the prize money to herself although other managers shared it out with their team members as it was an office branch award. She filled her own file up with compliments whilst recording only mistakes on her office staff files. The carers found this manager unapproachable and a lot of them took their concerns higher , only to be ignored.Management  made all our working lives a misery.
Helpinghsnds should be ashamed to call themselves a care company as they really don’t care at all. Best thing I ever did was leave this place. I would not recommend at all.

Carers are severely overworked, no support at all. In branch staff is always understaffed.
 On call system is useless. 
They bang on about policies and procedures but not even management follow them. 
Have no sense of confidentiality for either customers or employees. 
Make you feel small, constantly guilt tripping you into working on your days off. Constant communicatioons on days off to ask you to work, never stick to your availability. No work life balance at all. 
Complaints procedure is shocking, nothingn gets addressed as they would rather protect the companys reputation than the customers and carers. 
Manager would rather manage multiple other branches than her own. 
Rarely enough time given to travel from one customer to another. 
They send you between 30mins to an hour away from home, you could be 10 mins from home for one customer then 45 mins away for next then back to near home its stupid!
If you are unwell and cannot come in or need to go home they will refuse as will claim they cannot cover you. 
They will ask you to work on days off claiming they have no one else then when you tell them you will have to check and come back to them, during that time they will magically find someone. 
No care for wellbeing off staff. 

I started at this company a bright, happy individual and now cry almost every shift, have lost my sanity, dread work because I have to deal with the staff and have lost so much precious time with my family because I am so exhausted or manipulated into working on my days off. DO NOT RECOMMEND THIS COMPANY AS AN EMPLOYEE OR IF YOU NEED CARE FOR YOUR LOVED ONES. This place is TOXIC


Managers are not managers. Only by title. There are far too many managers on top of managers all with different knowledge and ideas. As a manager at Helping Hands you are not left to do.your job and certainly you do not have a say in anything. You are like a muppet on strings. There is no life/work balance. You are expected to work 24/7. There are circles of friends made amongst the management teams and if you choose to just do your job and not get together with them for parties or drinking or whatever...well then you are an outsider. You are asked to pay from your own pocket for office supplies, or gas or trips they send you to or training arrangements and they reimburse you when it's convenient for them. They will not care if your wages are wrong and will, again, pay you back when it's convenient for them. Discrimination and bad words about the carers and sometimes even clients are on a daily basis. Extremely disorganized and you have to do the same job over and over again wasting a lot of time. The amount of paperwork they put in place it is absolutely unnecessary. In this age and era things are on speed and things can be done much easier but there is not organization in place whatsoever. Hectic and chaotic everyday.
I have been in the care industry for many many years mostly working for the biggest providers in the country and I have never encountered anything like Helping Hands. The fact that the office staff leaves a few months after employment offer, speaks volume. Unfortunately, it is very unlikely that the board of directors are aware of the under-layers. Nor they seem to care much. You just a number there.
It is advertised as a family business (started as one in 1989) but it is far from being one today.

Top Job Titles	Average salary
Care assistant 3 salaries reported	£15.76 per hour
Caregiver 6 salaries reported	£13.99 per hour
Registered manager 1 salary reported	£31,000 per year
Field supervisor 14 salaries reported	£24,029 per year
Care coordinator 12 salaries reported	£26,642 per year

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