The United Kingdom has welcomed more people into the healthcare and social care sector than every other developed country in the world. They hire more doctors, nurses, care and support workers who are ready to live and work in the country. Being a support worker in the United Kingdom is not just rewarding, fulfilling but also beneficial as you will get to develop yourself, grow and live harmoniously in an enabling environment like the United Kingdom. In this article, we will provide you with all the information you need to know about being a support worker in the United Kingdom.
Who is a support worker in the United Kingdom?
A support worker achieves professional roles via providing support mentally and physically to their clients who need help in attaining or fulfilling their potentials or daily activities. They develop different care plans to assist their patients and ways to improve their mode of care. Support workers are professionals who are inspired to work very hard, making sure their patients receive the best of care and achieve their goals of standing up against all their challenges.
Roles and Responsibilities of a Support Worker in the United Kingdom
As a support worker in the United Kingdom, you have only one goal; to help your clients achieve their full potential. To achieve the goal, other responsibilities and roles must be fulfilled to achieve the goal, they include;
- A support worker is in charge of creating treatment or care plans for their clients.
- They assist them in fulfilling their daily activities either by pushing them to do their daily workouts session or supporting them physically.
- They also help their clients in overcoming their disabilities challenges, e.g learning disabilities, mental or physical health challenges.
- They move around with their clients for medical appointments and support them both mentally and physically.
- They communicate and collect vital information about their clients so as to know how to help them and also to receive maximum support from their family members.
- They also keep their clients’ records safe and provide assistance in the use of resources and social amenities.
What are the skills you need to be an excellent support worker?
To be an excellent support worker in the United Kingdom, you will need to acquire some skills. These skills will help you a lot in becoming the best and an outstanding support worker in the United Kingdom. It will also help you in identifying your clients problems, creating a care plan to solve these problems and in dealing with other challenges in your journey as a support worker. These skills include:
- Communicative skills: Communication is an important key to achieving your goal as a support worker. The ability to start a conversation, making your intentions known, and sharing your ideas effectively between all the concerned parties in your line of work is a skill you ought to have at all cost to improve not only yourself but also your clients’ experience.
- Organisation Skills: As a support worker, you will need to be able to organise yourself, your work plan and coordinate yourself in a very good manner to maintain a good working relationship with your clients. Having a good Organisation skill will set you different from other support workers in the world.
- Knowledge: The importance of knowledge can not be overemphasised in this profession. The total work done in this profession includes the use of knowledge. And it can never be taken out of the circle. The most knowledge you need as a support worker is healthcare knowledge especially in the areas of rehabilitative medicine and curative medicine. Knowledge is highly important in this profession and you can’t afford not to have it.
- Being compassionate and empathy: The ability to share other people’s feelings, putting yourself in their shoes, will help to understand them and be able to find solutions to their problems. You must also be compassionate about helping your clients and the feeling of fulfilment must be your feelings when carrying out your duty as a support worker.
- Interpersonal Skills: To excel in this profession, you must have a good interpersonal skill. This involves the ability to relate and communicate with your clients, their families and their professional healthcare workers like you who are in charge of managing their health. You must be able to meet with these people, cooperate with them and ensure you deliver a good service to your clients.
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How to become a support worker in the United Kingdom
To become a support worker in the united kingdom is not a difficult tasks that cannot be achieved, you will need to follow the list of steps below to achieve that milestone of becoming a support worker in the United Kingdom which include:
Step 1: Job search
A job search is not what most people think it is. To be a support worker in the United Kingdom, you will need to get a job offer from a UK citizen who may be willing to sponsor your visa application and other fees to the country.
There are different job portals online to search for support workers in United Kingdom apart from the UK government website, and other job portals like  Carehome etc.
Click above link to apply for Care Support Worker in UK 👆👆Â
While you are thee pursue of the job, it is recommended you also do the following before or after your application:
- Get a GCSEs: Getting a General certificate for Secondary education will elevate you above all other applicants and set you different. Even though some employers will not require you to have a GCSE certificate. Having a GCSE will boost your confidence and develop your self esteem by adding more to your knowledge of managing your clients on their struggle and mental challenges.
- Get a Diploma: A good GCSE result can set you to apply for a diploma in care like a Level 3 diploma in Health and social care or Level 4 diploma in Health and social care management. It will also help you to understand your area of work and exactly what you need to do as a support worker.
- Have a National Vocational Qualification: This certificate helps you to possess the needed occupational skills and knowledge to perform really well in your profession as a support worker. Some employers require to have this qualification while others may not deem it necessary or part of the requested qualification.
- Develop a soft skill: Having some soft skills like analytical skills, problem solving, leadership, crisis management, will boost your chances in the application process because some employers really love someone with these skills as it will set them not just only as a qualified support worker but also being extraordinary in their profession. Â
- Apply for an Apprenticeship: It is another great way to improve your skills and get more experience while you also practise as a support worker. Having a year or two years of experience as an apprentice on your CV will boost your chances of getting the job than other applicants.
Step 2: Gather the Necessary Documents
Some documents will be requested by your employer and will be used in your application and screening process. Documents like birth certificate, valid ID passport, An IELTS certificate, proof of payment. etc.
Step 3: Review and Submission
It is highly recommended that you review your application before final submission. Check for errors in spelling, grammatical errors, documents submitted, etc. This step is very vital and should not be taken very lightly as any errors may lead to your disqualification. While you click on submit finally after thorough checks, you may give it to someone else to check before you finally submit it.
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Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
1. How much do I get as a salary as a support worker in the United Kingdom?
As a support worker in the United Kingdom, your salary per year or annum is around €22, 994 or €12.00 per hour.
2. Is it true that support workers are highly demanded in the United Kingdom?
Yes, support workers are always in demanded in the United Kingdom.The care sectors are always in demand for manpower.
3. What are my benefits as a support worker in the United Kingdom?
As a support worker in the United Kingdom, you will enjoy a good salary structure, personal and professional development, Overtime payment, health insurance, etc.