More and more live-in care placements nowadays have a food allowance included. Some even state that accommodation is included, which in most carers’ minds seems just like another way to pay the carer less.
It does seem strange that live-in carers, while cooking for their clients, have to cook another meal for themselves. In an already busy day, this often seems to add to the list of things to do.
Decide what you eat
The choice is yours as to what you eat. If you don’t want mushy food because that's what the client can eat, then you can eat something else.
Better if you have food issues yourself
For any carer who is gluten intolerant or has any other food intolerance, buying and cooking your own food can be a huge plus. If you are allergic to dairy it will never find its way into your dinner as you cook separately.
The food budget is all up to you
There is no need to clarify anything you buy to eat, even though you get an allowance. What you buy is entirely up to you.
Can double cooking time
It can double your time in the kitchen unless you are very well organised. If you want to eat completely different to your client you may end up cooking two very different meals.
Can double your shopping time
You will need to keep your food separate from your client, if you do the food shopping. You will need to pay separately so in effect you may find yourself doing a double amount of shopping.
You may need to shop in your break
While this may not be a major issue, shopping for yourself may not be an option when shopping for your client, and you may be faced with spending your break in the supermarket.
The allowance may not be enough
Buying things like tea and coffee are expensive and you may find that a large portion of your allowance is used up on these items. Sometimes these could be used from the kitchen if your client agrees so it is worth clarifying this point.
You may not eat as well as you would like
Unfortunately, a food allowance is often not enough to include a decent amount of meat, fruit and vegetables and in some cases you may find that the only way to get a meal is to resort to ready meals, which can be calorific, full of preservatives, salt and sugar.
Unfortunately there is no set allowance for food, although a general guideline seems to be in the region of £7 per day, about £50 per week.
While £50 may seem to be a fair amount of money, when you need to buy your own food, it may not go as far as you would like. Certainly the same allowance in London will run out far quicker than in many other areas so you would expect it to be higher there.
Depending on who one talks to, the amount of £7 per day may seem acceptable, or totally unrealistic.
Accepting a food allowance is a personal choice and is something that each carer should decide for themselves. Accepting a small allowance in return for a lower daily rate of pay should not be acceptable, although it is often used.
What is more irksome is that should one live-in carer accept the food allowance, then it will automatically be assumed that every following carer will also be happy with it, which is not necessarily true.
There are really only two outcomes to this issue, namely to accept the placement, or to reject it and hope there is a better one available.
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