Care agency workers - tipping them at Christmas

[WirelessPaul]

I have been reluctant to post this but as it will only cause me stress if I do not, here it is.
Since August we have had care workers in for Susan. One set come in 4 times a day to change Susan's incontinence pad and the number we see is large. The other group come in over a night and a day to give me the chance to sleep properly and get out shopping etc this is a limited group.

I do not want to insult people, ignore them or get things totally wrong.

So my question is about what other people do about the traditional tipping at Christmas. Do people do this? Any experience will be helpful.

PS. My searches have turned up nothing.
Paul

 

[Grannie G]

I used to give all our carers a bottle of wine.

 

[jeany123]

It is usually written into the contract that you are not allowed to give any money or presents without contacting the agency first, it is in ours,
i would check if I were you x

 

[malc]

i would make it a gift rather than money and make sure the relevant people know you instigated the gift rather than the person they are caring for(vunerable person protection)then the staff won't get in to trouble.

 

[Beate]

I give the Age UK sitters a small gift at Christmas. Apparently I am not supposed to but as long as none of them blabs, who's to know? We are only talking about a token of appreciation to a couple of people here. If you're unsure give them a Christmas card. Surely no one can object to that.

 

[ASH74]

With my gran my mum always gave them chocolates or wine .... Nothing major just a token gift.


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[angelface]

We gave careworkers money at Christmas. The agency said you were not allowd to do so, but we just put it in with the card given to them as they went out the door.
Care workers don't get paid much.

 

[WILLIAMR]

We gave careworkers money at Christmas. The agency said you were not allowd to do so, but we just put it in with the card given to them as they went out the door.
Care workers don't get paid much.

I think it depends on individual contracts.
I know a care worker who was allowed to accept up to £10 at christmas without telling his employers.
Oddly he accepted a wallet which he thought was worth about £10 and he later found it was worth about £50.
He did tell his employers but he had no problems as the customer or himself did not realise the value at the time.

William

 

[Not so Rosy]

Must admit I am in a bit of a quandary about this. Last year Dad had to go in a Care Home on Christmas Eve due to flooding so I didn't get a chance to buy the staff any gifts.
I ended up putting money into the Care Homes cat vet fund.

Dad is now in a Nursing Home where there are a lot of staff so individual gifts are a bit difficult. When my husband was in a Hospice the gift of choice as requested by nurses and carers was Molton Brown or L'Occitane hand washing and moisturising products. I might go down that route again so they have some nice smellies in the staff bathrooms.

 

[cragmaid]

When Mum was at home I used to buy a couple of big tubs of sweets QS or R*ses H8eros etc and told the girls to take a few each time they visited....because she rarely had the same carers two shifts in a row.

Now she's in the home I just do the same for the staff room, because there are too many to buy individual things for.

 

[Canadian Joanne]

We never had carers coming into the home but in the years my mother has been in the nursing home, we buy huge (think Costco size) boxes of shortbread biscuits and distribute them to all departments.

 

[bemused1]

Also been mulling this over. Our agency says no gifts or money but they have really gone the extra mile this year at times. I like the idea of a large tin of something they can dip into when they come.

 

[Lindy50]

Oh dear, this had never occurred to me!

Does anyone here not give cards, chocs, or some other gift?? Mum has a team of about 6 care assistants, who only come in for 15 mins a day in total....a couple of them could be described as 'regular' but I only know this really from reading the communication notes

 

[WirelessPaul]

Thank you for all your comments, most informative and helpful.
Paul

 

[Jinx]

Thank you for raising this, I had been thinking about what the best approach would be, the answers have been very helpful, thanks everyone.


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[2197alexandra]

Even though dad stopped having carers at home back in july when he moved with me. Just today my sister came with a card and tin of biscuits from my dads old morning carer. He had remembered her contact address from on dads wall and popped them round to her. I will call him tomorrow and thank him he really was a special carer and really went out of his way to help dad. Even searching for dad with us many a time when he went missing all in his own time.

I know rules are rules but last year all my dads carers, social worker and OT got a box of Thorntons and a card from me and I never sent one to anything to my brothers or sisters cause as far as I was concerned they had done NOTHING for my dad throughout the year.

 

[hokeycokey]

I must admit that I'd not yet thought about it for the Care Home. In DH home there are always sweets and chocolate available for everyone so that wouldn't be special for the staff but there seem to be a huge number of different staff.
Any ideas would be much appreciated thank you

 

[truth24]

Have made 4 doz mince pies and am doing other bits and pieces for the CH's Christmas party. Also take in a cake when I am baking and occasionally sweets from the company my daughter works for, so am just taking in a large tin of Belgian biscuits from a well known store for the staff to share and one for the residents. Can't think of anything else as there are too many staff to take individual presents and I don't think they would want to include me in their secret santa! Any other ideas would be welcome.

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[briana]

xmas

as a former " employed" carer, I or my work mates never did expect any "gift" from service users, a thank you xmas card was highly thought of, if there were several teams calling within the 24hrs, there were usually box/tin chocs, mince pies etc, for carers to have a dip into whilst on the call. I used to work many a xmas day and one service users husband used to come into the lounge after we had finished making the lady comfortable, with a hot mince pie and coffee on a silver tray,,, we loved it, for carers it is most def the thought of making a difference counts above any present, please don't worry over this,
As someone who now has carers for my husband (only 2 ) I have bought a small pouch of chocs, and a thank you card. hope this helps. bb

 

[jeany123]

I bought a card a small bottle of wine and some Thorntons chocolates for our 3 regular carers and gave the first one this morning, she was grateful and said they were allowed to take things from the family but not someone living alone that wanted them to accept something,

An idea for other people perhaps, to say it's from family,


I sent a box of Thorntons chocolates, a box of biscuits and a jar of toffees to the day centre,