156 care employers in Bedford could find you

Working in care in Bedford

Bedford is growing fast. What does that mean if you work in care?

Few places in the East of England have grown like Bedford. The 2021 census put the borough's population up by 17.6% in ten years, the biggest percentage rise in the region, and the CQC's 2026 assessment of the council says the number of people aged over 65 is expected to rise by 64% between 2023 and 2043. Care work here is a long term prospect, not a passing one.

Most of the work sits in Bedford town and Kempston, with a ring of villages making up the rural side of the borough. Home care agencies slightly outnumber care homes, so many roles involve visiting people in their own homes. Rounds in town can be short, but village calls usually mean driving between them, so it helps to say up front whether you have a car.

Bedford has long been a town people move to for work. After 1951 the London Brick Company recruited workers from southern Italy for its brickworks, and many families settled for good. Today Poland and India are the most common countries of birth after England, and around one in eight residents identifies as Asian. Older people from any of these communities may feel most at ease with a carer who shares their language, so if you speak Italian, Polish, Panjabi or anything else, put it on your profile.

Bedford Borough Council encourages people eligible for adult social care to consider direct payments, which let them employ the person they choose, so personal assistant roles exist alongside agency and care home jobs. Bedford Hospital on Kempston Road, run by Bedfordshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, is the local option for healthcare assistant work. Bedford College runs a full time Level 2 Health and Social Care course, and the Bedford College Group also offers a Level 2 Certificate in Preparing to Work in Adult Social Care by distance learning.

78% of the inspected care employers in Bedford are rated Good or Outstanding by the CQC, below the 82% across the East and below England as a whole (85%).