A care home group is offering to give new carers £1,000 towards their household bills in a bid to fill vacancies and ease their cost of living worries.
Saint Cecilia’s Care Group, which has five homes in North Yorkshire, is hoping to boost recruitment with a one-off payment to help new starters with rising costs.
It currently has around 160 care staff and 25 vacancies across its services.
These include a nursing home in Whitby, a nursing home and two care homes in Scarborough, and a care home in Pickering.
Saint Cecilia’s director Aaron Padgham said: “Some of the biggest challenges facing people at the moment are rising bills and so we are offering to ease that worry for anyone who would like to join us.
“Whether you are new to care or in another position, we will be happy to pay mortgage, gas, electric, water or any other bills, up to a total of £1,000, to any new carers at Saint Cecilia’s.”
It comes as new immigration rules came into force on Tuesday allowing providers to recruit from overseas to fill vacancies.
The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) first announced that care workers would be added to the shortage occupation list on Christmas Eve.
The decision followed a recommendation from the Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) that the jobs be made eligible for the health and care visa and placed on the list, which is designed to help migrants get work visas to fill jobs where there are shortages.
The Government has also provided extra funding and launched a campaign to improve recruitment and retention to help with staffing pressures.
According to the workforce body Skills for Care, on average, 6.8% of adult social care roles were unfilled during 2020/21 – the equivalent of 105,000 vacancies on any one day.
