Care home provider Cera Care to hire 10,000 new staff as coronavirus crisis sees ‘unprecedented’ demand

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Dr Ben Murathappu has told the Standard that the care home provider will provide thousands of new jobs.
Cera Care
Rebecca Speare-Cole24 March 2020

Cera Care will hire and train 10,000 people to help with the “unprecedented” understaffing levels that have been compounded by the coronavirus pandemic.

The UK-wide care home provider started recruiting new staff on Tuesday with the aim of getting thousands who have recently lost their jobs back into work.

The company said it is looking to hire frontline staff, training up professional carers as well as hiring people for lighter touch roles like delivering groceries and running errands.

It comes as Brits across the country face months of employment uncertainty after the Government introduced new social distancing measures and ordered the closure of all bars, shops, restaurants, gyms and more.

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The company’s co-founder and CEO, Dr Ben Maruthappu, said that Cera Care wanted “to do our part in stepping up to tackle the coronavirus”.

He told the Standard: “We want to help people who have lost their jobs, in areas like hospitality or the gig economy.

“We will train them and put them in the care system, to help bolster the NHS and make an impact on coronavirus.”

Cera Care also plans to pass on new hires to smaller care companies who are finding it more difficult to recruit.

The company uses is technology tools to make working in the care sector easier 
Cera Care

Dr Maruthappu said that there are 9.2 million people over the age of 70 in the UK at the moment who need a way to get basic amenities - right down to toothpaste.

Meanwhile, the number of people in the UK who need care but are not receiving it was estimated at 1.2 million even before the pandemic, he said.

So the majority of jobs Cera Care is looking to fill are for frontline staff - professional carers delivering regulated services, Dr Maruthappu said.

This includes work like helping the elderly and vulnerable with daily living like cooking, washing and getting in and out of bed.

Cera Care is also looking to hire people for lighter touch roles, like delivering food and medicine as well as running errands.

“With coronavirus now really affecting the majority of the nation, there are tremendous pressures on the social care system,” Dr Maruthappu said.

“The demand is unprecedented. So we are putting people back to work, but also supporting older, vulnerable people and the NHS."

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The company opened applications on Tuesday morning and have already seen a flood of people apply.

“Our ambition is to create a network and a community to beat coronavirus," Dr Maruthappu said.

“We are really hoping these are long-term roles and we want people to join the care sector permanently."

Dr Maruthappu said that the social care system is a sector in desperate need of staff and extra resources - not just during the coronavirus outbreak.

Even before coronavirus, it was a sector that had huge demand for staff and the outbreak has only compounded the situation.

“If we are able to put these many people back in work, help people living at home and build a community that older people can be a part of that would be fantastic,” Dr Maruthappu said.

“Even for me, this coronavirus is challenging and worrying, like trying to purchase the food I want in the supermarket.

“But imagine if you are someone in their 80s with dementia trying to shop. It would be terrifying."

Apply for the new vacancies at ceracare.co.uk or becomeacarer.co.uk.

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