256 care employers in North Northamptonshire could find you

Working in care in North Northamptonshire

Kettering, Wellingborough, Corby or Rushden: which town suits your care work?

North Northamptonshire is a string of working towns with farmland and villages running east towards Thrapston and Oundle. Care employers are spread unusually evenly between the three largest towns: Kettering has the most, Wellingborough and Corby are close behind, and Rushden follows some way back. More than half are home care agencies, so a lot of the work is visiting people at home rather than a single building.

It is a growing area rather than an ageing one. The population rose by 13.5% between the 2011 and 2021 censuses to around 359,500, the second largest increase in the East Midlands and about twice the rate for England, while the median age stayed at 40. Poland is now the most common country of birth after England, and around 9,600 residents were born in Scotland. If you speak another language, it is worth listing it.

North Northamptonshire Council's pages are candid about what personal assistant work involves. PAs may work for one employer, for several people, or as self-employed, on part time or full time hours, and some do it alongside an entirely different job. Duties run from personal care and medication to helping someone get to work, go shopping or take a holiday. People using a direct payment can get help with employment, payroll and pensions from the council's Personal Budget Support Service team.

Kettering General Hospital is the main acute hospital in the north of the county and, with Northampton General, forms University Hospitals of Northamptonshire. Northamptonshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust runs community and mental health services. Tresham College, part of The Bedford College Group, teaches Level 3 Health and Social Care at Corby, Kettering and Wellingborough, with an industry placement built in.

86% of the inspected care employers in North Northamptonshire are rated Good or Outstanding by the CQC, above the 82% across the East Midlands and in line with England as a whole (85%).