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 Social Care

 Help people get more out of their lives and get more out of your own

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0300 123 1100

Jobs in social care Employment issues

Find a job in social care

There are hundreds of jobs in social care available across England right now. You might find a job by:

  • Visiting a local council's website. Search for Local Authority job website by region. (Each local council has a different job category for these vacancies, including 'health & care' and 'care work'. Social care vacancies are not always available but please keep trying – new jobs are added all the time)
  • Looking in your local newspaper – many residential care homes and local councils place adverts in this way
  • Looking in your local library, town hall, or sports centres for vacancies with your local council
  • Looking in newsagents’ windows – many employers place adverts here for local vacancies
  • Listening to local radio to hear which employers are recruiting.

Read about the Training to see how you can expand your skills once you’ve landed your first job. Explore everyday employment issues.

Please note:
The Department of Health is not responsible for the contents or reliability of the websites you can link to from this site and does not necessarily endorse the views expressed within them. Listing shall not be taken as endorsement of any kind. We cannot guarantee that these links will be active as we have no control over availability of linked pages.

European Employment Services (EURES)

- European Employment Services
European Employment Services (EURES) aims to facilitate the free movement of workers within the European Economic Area (EEA) (the 27 members of the European Union, plus Norway, Liechtenstein and Iceland) and Switzerland. Its objectives are to:

  • Inform, counsel and provide advice to potentially mobile workers on job opportunities and living and working conditions in the European Economic Area.
  • Assist employers working to recruit workers from other countries Provide particular advice and guidance to workers and employers in Crossborder regions.

Independent Safeguarding Authority

- www.isa-gov.org.uk
The Independent Safeguarding Authority’s (ISA) role is to help prevent unsuitable people from working with children and vulnerable adults. From October 2009 they will be responsible for assessing every person who wants to work or volunteer with vulnerable people. Potential employees and volunteers will need to apply to register with the ISA. Once the scheme has been fully rolled out, employers who work with vulnerable people will only be allowed to recruit people who are ISA-registered.

Local Government Employers

- www.lge.gov.uk
Local Government Employers (LGE) is the national centre of excellence for local authorities on pay, pensions and employment strategy. LGE works with local authorities, regional employers and other bodies to lead and create solutions on pay, pensions and the employment contract, to ensure the provision of excellent and affordable local services.

The Improvement and Development Agency (IDeA)

- www.idea.gov.uk
The Improvement and Development Agency (IDeA) works in partnership with all councils to enhance their performance and develop the local government sector as a whole.

Unison

- www.unison.org.uk
Unison is the largest trade union in the UK, representing 1.3 million people working in a range of organisations including local government, the health service, education, the utilities and private companies. It is thus the union for both social workers and social care workers. Its website contains details of union activities, how to join and how Unison can help you.

UK Border Agency

- www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk
The UK Border Agency considers applications for permission to enter or stay in the United Kingdom, citizenship and asylum. Information on working in the UK and applying through the new points based immigration system can be found on their website.