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Working in care in Essex

From Harlow to the Tendring coast: where is the care work in Essex?

Essex stretches from the edge of east London out to a long North Sea shoreline, and its care jobs follow that shape. Colchester has far more care employers than anywhere else in the county, Chelmsford is a clear second, and then comes a group of towns of similar weight: Clacton-on-Sea, Basildon, Harlow and Brentwood, with Braintree not far behind. Home care agencies make up just over half of all the employers, so a lot of the work here means visiting people in their own homes rather than working a fixed shift in one building.

The Tendring peninsula deserves a mention of its own. At the 2021 census the median age in Tendring, which takes in Clacton, Frinton, Walton and Harwich, was 50, ten years above England as a whole and the second highest anywhere in the East of England. That goes some way to explaining why a seaside town like Clacton sits alongside much bigger places such as Basildon on the list of busy care areas.

Essex County Council runs adult social care everywhere in the county except Southend-on-Sea and Thurrock, which have their own councils. Anyone receiving its direct payments may take on a personal assistant, and the council refers people to an independent support provider for help recruiting PAs, paying staff and managing the money. Paying a relative who lives in the same house is only allowed in exceptional cases agreed beforehand.

For NHS comparison, Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation Trust runs Basildon, Broomfield and Southend hospitals, East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust runs Colchester Hospital and Clacton Hospital, and The Princess Alexandra Hospital serves Harlow and west Essex. Colchester Institute offers Adult Care Worker and Lead Adult Care Worker apprenticeships, while Harlow College runs a short part time course called Preparing to Work in Health and Care.

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