106 care employers in Thurrock could find you

Working in care in Thurrock

Grays, Tilbury and the riverside: what care work looks like in Thurrock

Thurrock sits on the north bank of the Thames between London and Basildon, and it is a younger, fast growing place compared with the rest of Essex. The 2021 census put its median age at 36, four years below England, and its population grew by 11.6 per cent in ten years, well ahead of the regional and national rise. Home care is the dominant kind of care work here: around three quarters of local care employers are home care agencies, with relatively few care homes and only a handful of nursing homes.

Grays is the centre of things, with more care employers than anywhere else in the borough, followed by Tilbury and South Ockendon. Rounds tend to link those towns with the estates and villages around them, so a car or a reliable bus route makes a real difference.

Thurrock does something a little unusual. For years the council has encouraged community micro-enterprises, small local services with eight or fewer staff or volunteers that offer help such as personal care, home support and social connection. People can pay for them with direct payments or personal budgets, and the council gives advice to anyone thinking of starting one. Thurrock Council's direct payments can also pay for a personal assistant or live-in care, so self-employed and PA work both have a place here.

For NHS work, the nearest acute hospital is Basildon University Hospital, run by Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation Trust, and NHS services locally are now planned by the NHS Essex Integrated Care Board, which covers Thurrock. South Essex College runs an iLearn Adult Social Care course that is offered at its Thurrock College in Grays.

88% of the inspected care employers in Thurrock are rated Good or Outstanding by the CQC, above the 82% across the East and above England as a whole (85%).