What is a Community Care Assistant?

What is involved in a community Care Assistant job? 

If you’re considering starting a career in care, or want to move to a new social care role, you might find yourself confused about different job titles. Lots of home care organisations use different names for similar roles, and this can make it hard to find the right role for you.

We’ve put together a guide to explain what you might be expected to do in a community Care Assistant role at Cera.

What does a community Care Assistant do?

In a Care Assistant job, you’ll provide support for someone to help them stay independent. Most of your service users will be older people, and some will have mobility difficulties or a diagnosis of dementia.

You may be expected to do some personal care, meal preparation, housework and, most importantly, provide a listening ear when they need you. You’ll need to be warm, friendly and patient as you work with service users.

Some service users live alone and others live with family or housemates. For someone living alone, you may be one of their only visitors, so you have a massive part to play in making sure they’re okay.

Personal care may include:

• Helping a service user get out of bed in the morning and go to bed at night, as well as moving around their home when necessary
• Preparing meals and feeding
• Supporting a service user to go to the toilet or manage continence care
• Bathing or showering support
• Providing support with getting dressed
• Prompting or helping to administer medication

Care Assistants follow a service user’s care plan, so your tasks will vary depending on the person you’re supporting. Some people may need full support with toileting, feeding and lifting multiple times a day, whereas others may just need a small amount of help with meal preparation and medication.

You’ll need to do a bit of admin work during or after each visit too. This is to record information about what you’ve done during your visit, any problems that might have occurred or anything new you need to flag up, and some general information about the service user.

At Cera, most of the admin work is done via an app, making it quick and easy for all of our Care Assistants to have the same information. We’ll provide you with a work phone to make sure you can access it easily.

Where does a community Care Assistant work?

Community Care Assistants work in their service users’ own homes – out in the community, hence the name! Other care workers might support people in care homes, hospices, sheltered accommodation or other settings.

Some Care Assistant roles are “live in”, where they live with a service user. Other Care Assistants live at home and just visit to provide care.

You’ll probably travel between different locations over the course of your working day (or night!). You’ll work within a certain area, but you’ll need to travel quickly between homes.

Care Assistant jobs are advertised all over the UK, so wherever you’re based, you’ll probably find local vacancies.

Due to the amount of travel involved in the job, most Care Assistants at Cera need to have a full driving licence and have their own vehicle. You may need to talk to your car insurance provider and explain that you drive for work purposes, as this can affect your insurance premiums.

What hours does a community Care Assistant work?

Care work can be a fantastic career for someone who doesn’t want to work a standard 9-5 job. Our service users need support at all hours of the day – and night! So, whatever time of day it is, there’s bound to be a Care Assistant working somewhere.

As a Care Assistant, you might want to take full or part-time hours – or you may even want a flexible hours role. You might work early or late day shifts, or overnight. Our Care Assistants work weekdays and weekends, so you may need to work Saturdays and Sundays.

Working evenings or doing nightshifts can be a good choice for families who are trying to cover their childcare needs without paying for nurseries or childminders and want to work while there’s another parent at home.

Talk to the team at Cera about your schedule and the hours you’d be able to work. Whatever your work schedule needs, there’s bound to be a Care Assistant job that fits!

What qualifications does a community Care Assistant need?

There’s a wide range of entry-level Care Assistant roles, so you won’t need any qualifications – or even any paid care experience. Although if you have experience and qualifications, that’s great too!

At Cera, we look for people who are compassionate, friendly and want to help others – we can train you on the rest find out more about What makes a good Care Assistant

We’ll run a DBS check on you (we pay for this) to ensure you’ve not got any history that might disqualify you for the role.

We’ll make sure you’ve had all the necessary training, including some online learning and shadowing a Senior Care Assistant to build your confidence. You’ll be able to get your Care Certificate within three months of starting your role, and after that, we’ll provide regular training refresher and update sessions.

Our care workers often go on to complete apprenticeships, diplomas or other vocational qualifications.

Watch Eunice's story to find out why she loves her role and how rewarding she finds it