82 care employers in St. Helens could find you

Working in care in St. Helens

Is St Helens a good place to start or grow a career in care?

St Helens is a former glass and coal town between Liverpool and Wigan, and the borough wraps around it to take in Newton-le-Willows and Earlestown to the east, Haydock, Rainhill, Rainford and Billinge. It is a close-knit place where a lot of caring already happens inside families. The 2021 census found St Helens still had one of the highest rates in the North West of people giving unpaid care, and the median age has crept up from 41 to 43.

For paid carers, that means steady demand. Half of the borough's care employers are home care agencies, with care homes and nursing homes making up the rest. Visits in the town centre, Thatto Heath or Parr can be close together, while Rainford and Billinge are more rural and a car helps.

If someone you know needs support, the first call in St Helens is to the council's Contact Cares service, a team of health and social care professionals that answers from 8am to 10pm every day of the year. St Helens Borough Council also pays direct payments that can be used to employ a carer or personal assistant for help with things like bathing, dressing, cooking and eating, so there is private PA work locally as well as agency roles.

For hospital work, Mersey and West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust runs St Helens Hospital and nearby Whiston Hospital in Prescot. Knowsley Community College and St Helens College, now one college, offers a Level 2 Certificate in Preparing to Work in Adult Social Care for adults, along with short courses in dementia care and end of life care.

89% of the inspected care employers in St. Helens are rated Good or Outstanding by the CQC, above the 84% across the North West and above England as a whole (85%).