How To Become A Self-employed Carer – Step By Step Guide

Do you want to become a self employed carer? Being a self employed carer is a very nice choice of work which has several benefits in it but isn’t as well easy on the other side. One of it’s amazing advantages is that you take control of your work. So you can either be a part time carer where you work under an agancy, becoming a subordinate and abide by their rules with lesser income or work full time making you a self employed carer with much benefits and income.

In this article, we will give you in steps how to become a self employed carer but then you have to know who a carer is and their benefits to steer up your vibes in becoming a self employed carer.

Who Is A Carer?

A carer is anyone, including children and adults who looks after a family member, partner or friend who needs help because of their illness, frailty, disability, a mental health problem or an addiction and cannot cope without their support. 

The primary responsibility of a carer involves physical care and support for the resident’s emotional wellbeing. 

Skills Needed To Be A Carer

There are some core skills that one needs in order to become a competent carer before taking it as a career which are as follows;

•  One must have the ability to relate with people from different background; The person you are caring for might not have the same background that you have. So everybody comes from a background with different ways of life including their attitude toward life. So you must be able to relate with them.
•  One must have a good communication skill; This matters as being a carer because your communication to the people you care can either drive you from them or keep you to them. So you should be sensitive in your communication and be observant.
• One should be able to control pressure; In most cases the people you care for can put you under much pressure and if you aren’t self controlled, you can burst out. So you should have the ability to keep calm in such circumstances.
• One should be a positive minded person to the people they render care to; You should be able to impact positive thoughts into the lives of those you are caring for as well as encourage them.
•  One should be patient as patience is a carer. So no matter the situation, you should be able to endure.

Having known these qualities of a carer, let’s take you to the benefits of a self employed carer.

Benefits of A Self Employed Carer

As a self employed carer, you stand to enjoy lots of benefits than working for an agency which are;

• As earlier said, one of the most amazing benefits is that you stand to take control of your work and finances.  In this case you are no more under any agancy and can make choices of your own that suits you.
• You can choose any client of your choice and fucos on a particular aspect of care.
•  You can make your own business decisions.
• Your working hour is at your own choice. Therefore you can fix any time to work.

To those of us who want to venture into being a self employed carer, i assure you lots of wins but you have to work towards it.

 We’ll hereby lead you into the next step which is how to become a self employed carer.

How To Become A Self-employed Carer

Every great goal is an essence of hard work. So having known your attributes, the next question pops up as how to take it as a fill time career.

1. YOUR QUALIFICATIONS

 You should have the right qualifications. There are diplomas and NVQs you can take at levels 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5. You might choose to gain experience and qualifications through an apprenticeship before going self-employed.

Having the right qualifications shows commitment to your work and gives your clients some good level of trust that you have the ability to give excellent care.

So before going into being self employed, You should have undergone some level of training to get qualified.

2. START UP YOUR BUSINESS

 Having gotten your qualifications, it is now high time to start up your own business.

What are the necessary steps to start up your own business?

• Have a business plan; A business plan is the first and important step to take before proceeding. Your business plan helps you to set up your goals to avoid some unforseen circumstances. Marketing your self should be part of your plan.
• Get registered: You are a self-employed carer that is one-person business without any duty to provide a replacement so you need to register your business with HMRC so they know your income to deduce their tax.
• You should have a self assessment tax return in other to pay your tax accurately and  your assessment should be completed annually.

3. THINK ABOUT THE LEGACIES

Get some professional advice before you go self employed, as there are a number of legalities to get your head around.

• You’ll need to choose a legal structure for your business, which means deciding whether you’ll be a sole trader or a limited company.
• You also need to make sure you know how to draw up the right contracts with your clients which should cover the work you’ll carry out, your working hours, payment, responsibilities, and how to end the contract.

Other policies include;

 A risk assessment record that shows you’ve thought about assessing risk and how to handle it

A complaints procedure that gives clients a clear process to follow if they have one.

A duty of care and safeguarding policy, which is clear about what to do if you’re concerned about someone’s safety.

4. DECIDE YOUR WORK ON AN HOURLY RATE

As a self employed carer, set your hourly rates. Make inquiries to know how other carers charge so as to  decide how much to charge.

Work out your costs carefully before deciding your rate, whether hourly, daily or weekly if you’re a sole trader.

Consider how much time and money you’ll spend travelling, the equipment you’ll need, and how much you might need for holiday and sick pay.

It’s also important to know who’s paying you. This is because the person you’re caring for might pay you directly, or the local authority may pay for you on their behalf.

5. FIND YOUR CLIENTS

After you’ve thought about the legalities and set up your business, you can start looking for clients. You can find your clients online or offline.

Firstly, know what kind of clients you want to care for which will fit your area of care in other to exhibit your possible skills.

If you are looking for clients online, there are  websites like Care.com that put self-employed carers in touch with clients as well as LinkedIn and Facebook. It will also be easy for clients to find you online.

Never underestimate the power of referrals when it comes to getting new clients and mostly, have a focus on providing the best care.

6. MEET YOUR CLIENTS BEFORE STARTING THE WORK

On a normal circumstance, clients will always want to meet with their carer before they employ them. So meet your clients and make sure you build comfortable relationships with each other.

Meeting with your clients is more like an oral interview where they get to know about you if possible in details. So you should be ready for possible questions like your family background, experience as a carer and relationships with previous clients.

You can always refute the job if you don’t feel comfortable about someone or the surroundings you might be working in.

7. HAVE A SELF EMPLOYED CARER INSURANCE

Insurance is the key to public liability. So the need to have insurance is to protect you if anything goes wrong or if your clients are injured or suffer loss.

Perhaps you employ new staff, the employers’ liability insurance will likely be a legal requirement where it covers the claim if a member of staff becomes ill or injured as a result of working for you.

There are other insurances like business equipment insurance that covers your equipments when they are damaged.

You now see that the need to have self carer insurance is vital.

8. CREATE SOME TIME FOR YOUR SELF

Planning time for your self is very important because as humans you need to think of yourself too. Though being a self employed carer can be stressful, you need some time to regain strength. In cases where you are sick, suspend your work and get treated. Afterall you control your job.

It might not be easy to take out time because nobody else will be there to care for them when you are away and this is the more reason you should have some employers.

Conclusion

A self employed carer is a critical job because you deal with people. You must have a caring spirit added up with some qualifications for a good back up. Have a start up by outlining your plans for the business, have a lagacy structure and decide your working hours. There after you find possible Clients by marketing yourself online and off-line. Haven found a client get to meet with them before starting the job. Get a self employed carer insurance which is important as this will cover you, your equipments, your employers even your clients. Lasly but not the least, create time for yourself. Followimg these steps will lead you to becoming a self employed carer.