691 care employers in Lancashire could find you

Working in care in Lancashire

Mill towns, a city and the Fylde coast: which part of Lancashire suits you?

Lancashire County Council covers twelve districts, and they feel very different. Preston is the county's care hub, with far more employers than anywhere else. East Lancashire has a string of former mill towns, including Burnley, Accrington and Nelson, each with its own cluster of services. In the north, Lancaster and Morecambe share a busy care market, and on the coast Lytham St Annes has a notably high number of care providers for its size. Between them lie the Ribble Valley, the Forest of Bowland and plenty of farmland, where home care means long drives. Care homes are the single biggest group of employers across the county, ahead of home care agencies.

Age varies hugely from place to place. Fylde, which includes Lytham St Annes, had a median age of 50 in the 2021 Census, joint second highest in the North West, and over a quarter of its residents were 65 or older. That fits with the large number of care homes along the coast.

Under Lancashire County Council's direct payments, a person can take on a personal assistant to help at times that suit them, so private PA work exists across the county. The council also runs Shared Lives, which it describes as the largest scheme of its kind in the country and which CQC rated Outstanding in 2019, with adults moving into a carer's family home long term or for short breaks.

The NHS picture depends on where you live. Lancashire Teaching Hospitals runs Royal Preston Hospital and Chorley and South Ribble Hospital, East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust runs Burnley General Teaching Hospital, and University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay runs the Royal Lancaster Infirmary. For qualifications, Lancaster and Morecambe College has full time Health and Social Care courses at Levels 2 and 3, while Burnley College offers adults a Level 3 route into the sector.

88% of the inspected care employers in Lancashire are rated Good or Outstanding by the CQC, above the 84% across the North West and above England as a whole (85%).