Career progression is a huge area of focus, and we advocate for mentoring, support, funded training and help to work toward professional qualifications. This not only means our dedicated carers are properly rewarded and recognised but also that they have real, tangible pathways to achieving new skills and becoming eligible for more senior roles.
Home care itself is a rapidly growing sector, and we’ve put together a straightforward guide to clarify the types of opportunities ideal for those new to home care, positions that require existing business capabilities, and the more specialist, sought-after care careers and ownership aspirations many carers work towards.
Starting a Career in the Home Care Space
Most applicants who haven’t worked in home care before but who have compassion, a can-do attitude, an empathetic nature and skills such as reliability, punctuality and willingness to learn make amazing carers – with entry-level jobs often including:
- Junior Care Assistants or Care Workers
- Home Care Support Worker Roles
- Care Assistants and Care Workers
The difference between a ‘junior’ or ‘trainee’ role is that this job means shadowing or working alongside a more experienced or senior home care professional, learning from their mentoring, and gaining the formal skills—such as a Care Certificate—and the know-how to perform the role independently.
We provide every new carer with full training to ensure they are capable of fulfilling all of the key aspects of the role, hold a recognised qualification, and can protect the well-being and happiness of care recipients in the comfort of their homes.
For many, this position acts as a stepping stone, where carers develop the baseline abilities they need to progress their careers and work towards more advanced qualifications and experience, which are naturally associated with higher rates of pay.
Qualifying as a Senior or Specialist Home Care Professional
There are multiple potential routes to becoming a senior care assistant or an equivalent job title, but we look for a combination of attributes, including:
- A minimum experience level and track record of delivering exceptional quality care
- Completion of relevant qualifications depending on the specific role
While some carers achieve NVQ qualifications, there are diverse ways to secure the skills and certifications needed to become eligible for a senior home care role. These can include diplomas in health and social care management or apprenticeships that lead to a senior care worker position.
Experienced, dedicated and well-established home care professionals can also consider specific roles or positions they would enjoy that align with their capabilities.
These could include qualifying in specific conditions, therapies or care approaches, such as rehabilitation, frailty, and home-from-hospital care, or working to gain expertise as a live-in or overnight senior carer who fulfils a specific role.
Senior carers might also decide to pursue positions as team leaders, which means they supervise and support more junior staff and liaise or report to supervisors and their own leadership teams. Their task is to help ensure the home care service is running smoothly, challenges are dealt with swiftly, and all carers have a point of contact if they require assistance or have any concerns.
Team leaders can also combine community-based home care work with in-branch work, such as answering calls or messages, handling client enquiries, and helping to manage absences or holiday requests.
Business-Focused Roles Within Home Care
Of course, an amazing home care team doesn’t only comprise carers working in the community. Our office-based staff often bring a wealth of know-how from other sectors and positions, such as events and project management, or previous roles in healthcare and residential care home environments.
These types of vacancies will necessarily depend on the needs of the care team, but examples include:
- Care coordinators: Often progress upwards from a senior home carer role. Coordinators have exceptional organisational abilities and manage care delivery, dealing with scheduling, communications, compliance, and maintaining high-quality care standards.
- Deputy managers: This position isn’t always required but deputies can work within larger home care teams to assist registered managers in the day-to-day functions of the home care agency, handling areas like recruitment, client care needs assessments, and training.
- Registered Managers: Can either be a separate individual or the same person who owns and leads the home care team. The registered manager is responsible for the overall quality and efficiency of care services as a senior leader accountable for all the functions and services provided.
Registered Managers must hold a formal certification and be registered with the Care Quality Commission (CQC) or the equivalent UK regulatory body in Wales or Scotland to hold this position.
They typically need to hold a health and social care diploma or a related degree and can transition to a senior managerial role either from elsewhere in the team, from outside the home care space, or having progressed from a junior care assistant position upward.
Higher Managerial and Ownership Positions Within the Home Care Sector
Franchise owners embrace the Guardian Angel Carers ethos and have autonomy over how they run and manage their local teams. They also have access to the resources, tried-and-tested systems, and regulatory infrastructure provided by the central head office team.
For many carers, owning their very own franchise is the ultimate aspiration, and those who are transitioning from a career elsewhere in the social and healthcare space or are launching a self-owned business for the first time have ongoing support, guidance, and training throughout.
Support ranges from assistance with HR and finance, training and recruitment, marketing, and compliance. We also maintain a fantastic peer support network that ensures those realising the dream of becoming a franchise owner have help from other home care owners who have embarked on the same exciting journey.
If you’d like to learn more about any of these care roles, the qualification and skill requirements, rates of pay, or vacancies currently available through Guardian Angel Carers, you are welcome to contact your nearest branch or browse our recruitment pages for more details.