Social Care Jobs FAQs

The current charge for an online DBS disclosure is £48. This is payable to Medacs Healthcare by credit/debit card at interview. 

Not all original documentation will be needed again only those that have expired, your consultant can advise you.

Yes, we welcome applications from newly qualified applicants, although your placement opportunities may be restricted until you gain more experience. 

We successfully place newly qualified social workers into teams on a regular basis, so please call our team now for a friendly chat on what we can offer you. 

As a social care worker it is essential that you hold the following training certificates before you work for us:

• Moving and handling (including health and safety) 
• First aid 
• Basic life support 
• Food hygiene (necessary for certain clients) 

Medacs Healthcare is an equal opportunities employer and we welcome applicants from overseas. 

If you have not gained any work experience in the UK but have worked as a social carer overseas in the last two years, you will need to make sure that your employers are able to respond to our references and reply in English. 

Remember that you must have right to work in the UK to register with us. If you are unsure of your status, please contact your local branch of Medacs Healthcare, or the Home Office to clarify this. 

Medacs Healthcare is an equal opportunities employer and we welcome applicants of all ages.

Medacs Healthcare run a daily payroll, which means that you can submit a timesheet any day of the working week and expect payment directly into your bank account within three working days. This means that you will not be left short in the way that you can be with other agencies who only run a payroll once a week. 

Yes we do. Medacs Healthcare is contracted to supply qualified social workers into a large number of local authorities throughout England. 

We can offer you a specialist, high quality service which involves face-to-face meetings with your dedicated consultant and a friendly, tailored package to suit your needs. We will not farm your CV out to numerous teams without talking to you about each role first and making sure that you are interested in applying. We will also negotiate your pay rate directly with the team on your behalf and we offer a limited company service to all our social workers. 

Whether you specialise in LAC or you want to break into a CMHT, we are bound to have a vacancy to suit you, wherever you live. 

Please make sure that you keep your DBS in a safe place, ready to take with you to placements if requested by the client. 

DBS checks need to be renewed every 12 months, so you should also make a note in your calendar of when your DBS will be 11 months old, at which point you and your consultant will need to apply for a new one to ensure you remain compliant and able to work when your old one expires. 

Whether you register for permanent or temporary work (or both), you will be allocated a dedicated, specialist consultant within your local area who will be responsible for finding you the types of role you have specified. 

Once we have established that we are able to find you work, you will be interviewed by your dedicated consultant. Having one main point of contact within a recruitment agency allows you to build up a working relationship over time and means that your consultant will become familiar with your work preferences regarding job roles, pay methods, when you like to be contacted, and how far you will travel for work. It also means that if you ever leave us for a while and then return, there will be someone in the office who knows you! 

Your consultant will contact you with details of a short term or longer-term role and will provide you with all the information that you will need about our client and the service users, patients or residents that you will be working with. 

We believe that by giving you a dedicated consultant you will receive the best possible service from Medacs Healthcare. 

This is dependant on the area in which you wish to work and on how quickly you can provide the information we need to make you compliant to work within the care industry. 

Most social care applicants will need to wait for a new Medacs Healthcare DBS check (formerly known as CRB or criminal record check) as well as references. Please see our compliance section for further details. DBS checks on average are returned within four weeks so please bear this in mind when calculating how much time you need to allow for us to fully register you. 

Qualified social workers will need to provide us with proof of qualification and GSCC registration, as well as references to register. Some of the teams we supply will accept a current DBS while you wait for your Medacs copy, so the registration length could be as rapid as a few days. 

Once we have received all the correct documentation, your consultant will give you a brief induction in your local office, during which you will receive your ID badge and details of payroll deadlines etc. 

As with any role that involves caring for vulnerable adults or children, you will need to fill out certain forms. These include the DBS (formerly CRB) application and our Medacs Healthcare registration form. In addition, you will need to: 

• Provide referee details, including your last care employer - your consultant will instruct you as to which referees they need to contact. 
• Attend any mandatory lapsed training as listed in the above section 

As a temporary social care worker you can work as many or as few hours as you wish through Medacs Healthcare, with no obligation on your part. 

Some of our candidates are parents or students who only want a few shifts per week to provide them with extra income. Many candidates have relied on us for several years to provide them with full time work every week. 

Medacs Healthcare operates a flexible service which allows you to call in your availability for work on a weekly or even daily basis. So, if you have advised your consultant that you would like ongoing full time work, this is what they will source for you. On the other hand, you may want just 16 hours per week, but only on certain days of the week, so again this is what your consultant will look for.  

When you work for Medacs Healthcare, you can ask for last minute shifts, long term contracts or permanent placements...it is up to you! 

Qualified social workers who are free to work full time will usually work a minimum of 35 to 40 hours per week on a contract basis of between 3 months and 2 years. If you are a qualified social worker looking for less than 35 hours per week, we should be able to offer you part time posts or consultancy work. 

For applicants working in social care we will need: 

• Proof of identification e.g. passport or EU ID card 
• Proof of address issued in the last three months 
• Proof of National Insurance number 
• Proof of your right to work in the UK e.g. UK visa for non EU members 
• Two colour passport photos 
• Any relevant formal qualification proofs such as NVQs 
• Mandatory training certificates which include the following: 
  • Moving and handling (including health and safety) 
  • First aid 
  • Basic life support 
  • Food hygiene (necessary for certain clients) 

Please note that Medacs Healthcare can provide training if yours is out of date. 

For qualified social workers we will need:  

• Proof of identification e.g. passport or EU ID card 
• Proof of address issued in the last three months 
• Proof of National Insurance number 
• Proof of your right to work in the UK e.g. UK visa for Non EU members 
• Proof of GSCC registration 
• Proof of social work qualification 
• Mandatory training certificates which include the following: 
  • Moving and handling (including health and safety) 
  • First aid 
  • Basic life support 
  • Food hygiene (necessary for certain clients) 

Medacs Healthcare is an industry leader in candidate compliance and many of our clients choose to use us above other agencies for this reason. DBS checks are no longer portable between organisations so the majority of our clients insist that candidates hold a Medacs Healthcare DBS whilst working for them. We therefore issue these as standard as part of your registration process.  

There may be some instances where a client will accept a non-Medacs Healthcare enhanced DBS whilst you are waiting for your new DBS to arrive. However, this is rare outside of qualified social work. 

There are many other addressed documents that can be provided such as a valid vehicle registration document, store card statement or an addressed payslip (issued within the last three months). Please contact your local Medacs Healthcare branch or the DBS helpline for further clarity on what we can accept. 

You will generally receive your copy of your new DBS a few working days before we do. Your copy will be sent to the address that you gave on your DBS application. 

On receipt of your copy, please phone your local Medacs Healthcare branch to confirm that you have had yours back and to book an induction with your consultant. This will ensure that there is nothing left to do when we receive our copy and that we can get you straight out to work. 

Please note that your consultant will need to receive their copy before giving you any work as it may contain extra information. 

Whilst it is in our interest to assist as many people as possible to find work, Medacs Healthcare is dedicated to maintaining the high standards that we are known for. 

If we do not feel that we will be able to find you work, we will advise you of the reasons for this and what you could do to increase your skills and experience. 

Many people who were not selected the first time round take our advice (either to build their experience or to gain suitable qualifications), and then return to us to find they have been successful the second time round. 

Medacs Healthcare run a daily payroll, which means that you can submit a timesheet any day of the working week and expect payment directly into your bank account within three working days. This means that you will not be left short in the way that you can be with other agencies who only run a payroll once a week. 

As a temporary worker, you will accrue holiday pay according to how many hours you work through us each week, up to a maximum of 28 days per year. Holiday pay will be paid at the average of your pay rate and will steadily accrue over the year. 

We try to give you as much notice as possible but this is sometimes out of our control and last minute cancellations may occur. In instances such as this we will endeavour to offer you alternative work and do our best to ensure you do not lose out. Medacs Healthcare has a policy of not supplying staff to clients that habitually do this and each incident is thoroughly investigated as to why the candidate is cancelled.

We will go through all your work options at interview so that we gain a clear idea of your skills and what types of roles we can offer you. 

As a temporary worker, once you are fully registered, it is imperative that you make your consultant aware of your availability for work on a weekly or even daily basis to ensure that you are offered as many shifts as possible.

At Medacs Healthcare we use a bespoke database that will match you to positions within seconds, using your experience and your availability. It is important that you are available to answer any calls from your consultant because shifts get filled very quickly when there are several agencies racing against each other. 

For short term, temporary shifts, it should be a simple case of your consultant advising our client that you are available for the job and that you have the correct experience and compliance levels. Generally, our clients trust our consultant's recommendation and will book you immediately for temporary shifts without wanting to meet you or see your CV. 

Although we understand that some circumstances outside of your control may dictate cancellations at any time, we request that you give us notice of any cancellation in a timely manner with a full valid reason. Just changing your mind will not be acceptable at the time and we ask you for your 100% commitment with each booking. 

If you are unable to show evidence of completing mandatory training in the last 12 months (three years for Food Hygiene), you will need to complete it through a Medacs Healthcare refresher course. For more information, contact your consultant for more details of visit the training section on the website. 

Whenever a client books you directly you will need to contact your consultant immediately to notify them of the details of the shift. This is because if we hold no record of the shift you are not covered by our insurance and it may also effect how quickly we are able to pay you. 

Please note that this is your responsibility and not the client's. 

Yes we do. Medacs Healthcare feels that it is important to offer a 24 hour service to our clients, so we run a national Out Of Hours service that is manned throughout the night.

The team will continue to contact you with work after 6pm and during weekends, meaning that you will not miss out on work that becomes available during these busy times. 

If you are not available in the evenings or weekends you will be able to instruct them not to contact you during these times. 

Some of our clients need booking reference or order numbers on timesheets as a way of marrying up your original timesheet to the Medacs Healthcare invoice that they receive. 

What do I do if I have not had my timesheet signed by the client I have worked for? 

If possible go back to the department for authorisation to be granted, otherwise forward your timesheet to your consultant who will be able to assist. 

Medacs Healthcare run a daily payroll, which means that you can submit a timesheet any day of the working week and expect payment directly into your bank account within three working days. This means that you will not be left short in the way that you can be with other agencies who only run a payroll once a week. 

When your consultant offers you a shift, they will brief you fully on all aspects of the job, including the pay per hour.