Health and Social Care NVQ Made Simple | NVQ Assessors Resources.

In times like this we could all do with some extra income or a pay rise. The question you should be asking yourself is how do I increase my income?

I have often heard care workers say I have been working for this organisation for the past 5years or more but they have not increased my salary, these employers must be so greedy and mean…, so they think. Some would say their agency has got lots of contract and therefore they should be making a lot of money why can’t they just increase our wages.

Well I suggest you give this scenario a thought – If you employed a cleaner or maid to clean your house every weekend and you have always paid her or him £6 per hour and the person has been so trustworthy over a number of years. What do you think your answer would be if the person asked you one day the question “could I have a pay rise”?

Let’s see what you could say – “well I like the way you’ve been doing your work but if you need a pay rise I might have to give you more work or since you have been so good to me and I don’t want you to leave can I add 50p extra or £1 to your hourly rate? This is the likely answer I would have given the person…., how about you?

The truth is if the cleaner decided to go and get some training or an NVQ, all he would do is look for a job that measures up to the experience plus his certificate and get a better pay.

In a nutshell you need to add value to your existing career to attract extra income from an employer or step into a new role by taking on new responsibilities and developing your career. This would surely enhance your income.

Permit me to tell you more about myself, further to the article “Why health and Social Care?” this should explain how to increase your earnings in Health and Social Care.

I used to work as a care worker with Excel Care about 7years ago and was earning £5.50/hr. All I was required to bring to get the job was a certificate of attendance for a two weeks training as a care assistant and attend a one week induction plus shadow an experienced care worker. After a year, I realised even if I added more years of service I was only going to earn an increase of 50p to £1.00 for the same job description.

So I started thinking of the next step. I figured out that with one year of experience I could get a better pay by changing the organisation I worked for so I applied to so many agencies and made up my mind that I was not going to take up any offer below £7.00/hr. The opportunity came and I registered with – Amazing Healthcare Solutions.  I was ready to start earning a better pay until I realised something; when the pay is less you may get lots of hours but when you get paid more you might not get all the hours you require to actually make a good income and this was the tune I had to dance to but not for long.

During the induction programme I was so impressed by the information and knowledge passed to us by the manager to carry out our responsibilities as a care worker. I noticed she had to pick some calls in between the session and this immediately sparked a thought within me.

After the session I walked up to the manager to ask if there was any opportunity for me to work voluntarily within the organisation as an office staff. Guess what happened afterwards………

I worked voluntarily a few hours a week for some months along with my position as a care worker , this afforded me some more experience and afterwards I was upgraded to a permanent staff, One year later I was offered a position as a Care Coordinator.

When you add value to someone else’s work, you automatically add value to yourself and that’s what happened to me. I did not automatically get a pay rise but I gained a wealth of experience. I attended all training made available to me until one day my manager said I’ve enrolled you for the A1 award. Sincerely I did not have a clue of what this was all about but as I always believed in adding value to myself, I did the course.

To cut the long story short I completed the course along with an NVQ Level 3 in Care and became a qualified NVQ Assessor. I supported staff within my working place to complete their NVQs and still carried out my normal job responsibilities as a care coordinator.

About a year after, I got my first job as a full time NVQ Assessor which doubled my salary as a care coordinator, and then I understood there is more to come when you keep adding value. I was advised by a friend to do a teaching course and the V1 award and more doors opened……….

If you are wondering how much can be earned as an assessor, it’s between £22,000 and £30,000 or £18ph – £25.

You might be thinking I don’t want to assess NVQs, there are other ways of progressing within the health and Social Care sector but it starts from adding value to yourself first.  Climb the next step NVQ 2, NVQ 3, NVQ 4 or NVQ5 relevant to you. If you don’t have the job role required, you can offer to do some voluntary work to get the experience. If you will enjoy assessing or teaching start with the A1 award, then PTTLS, CTTLS or DTTLS and if you already have these do a search on the next level of your interest and how much you will get paid, you will be surprised.

NVQ Made Simple is here to support you move to the next level. Feel free to ask questions on how to progress in Health and Social Care or leave your comments. We would be glad to read from you too.