An innovative and forward-thinking home care provider has come up with a creative solution that could help ease the care crisis in St Helens.
With the sector facing a daunting shortage of approximately 105,000* workers nationally (*Skills for Care), Alcedo Care Group is trialling a new initiative and have purchased five new mopeds for employees to use during work hours, representing an investment of more than £20,000.
Currently only 10% of the company’s workforce are walkers, however, more than 50% of applicants received recently for new jobs are non-drivers. By purchasing the mopeds, Alcedo Care is now able to recruit people it would not have otherwise been able to, allowing the fast-growing firm to achieve its goal of recruiting 100 people per month.
The company is paying for employees to undertake the nationally recognised CBT course, ensuring they are compliant and legally able to drive the mopeds. It is also providing comprehensive insurance and full safety equipment, including gloves, a jacket and helmet, so that they are fully protected when using the mopeds to visit clients.
Furthermore, Alcedo Care has also just significantly increased its starting salary for carers, which will ultimately make a career in care much more appealing for those already working in the sector, but more importantly, for those who perhaps work in hospitality or retail.
With increased pay, full training provided and now free transport available, Alcedo Care hopes to attract people outside of the sector into care, reducing staff shortages and playing its part in solving the care crisis.
Andy Boardman, Managing Director at Alcedo Care Group, comments: “This is a pilot scheme for Alcedo Care, but we really do believe the mopeds will help with our recruitment drive throughout 2022. With plans to employ 1000 people and having noticed that more than half of all applicants were non-drivers, we needed to come up with a viable solution that helps our team get around to our clients.
“The mopeds, combined with our comprehensive training programme and increased pay, means we no longer need to focus on solely recruiting people from within the care sector. Our offer will appeal to those in all sectors, such as hospitality, and by doing so, we are helping to ease some of the staff shortages in the region.”
If the pilot scheme works well, Alcedo has made a commitment to purchasing many more mopeds, ensuring there are between 10 to 20 vehicles located at each of Alcedo Care’s 11 offices.
Established in 2017, Alcedo Care offers Domiciliary Care Services, Live-in Care, Nurse-Led Complex Care Services, Supported Living and Children’s Services and has fast gained an enviable reputation as the home care provider of choice in the North West thanks to its superb 700-strong team of highly skilled and compassionate carers who make a tangible difference to the quality of life of the company’s home care clients.
Run by passionate husband and wife team, Andy and Jo Boardman, and with the support of their fantastic management team, the company is expanding at pace and aims to double in size over the next 12 months with the recruitment of more than 1,000 new carers.
