102 care employers in Westmorland and Furness could find you

Working in care in Westmorland and Furness

Fells, shipyards and market towns: who needs carers across Westmorland and Furness?

This council area stretches from the Furness peninsula and its shipbuilding town of Barrow up through Kendal and the southern Lakes to Penrith and the Eden Valley. Those are three quite different places, and the care employers follow them: Kendal has the most, with Barrow close behind and Penrith a clear third. Between the towns the land empties out fast. At the 2021 Census the old Eden district was the least densely populated local authority area in England, so a home care round there can mean long stretches of country road between visits.

The population is also one of the oldest in the North West. ONS figures for the former South Lakeland district put the median age at 51 in 2021, the highest in the region, and its 65 to 74 age band expanded by almost 16% in a decade. Barrow is a different picture, a working town whose population fell slightly over the same decade.

Westmorland and Furness Council pays personal budgets as direct payments, and its guide to them names hiring a PA for personal care and household tasks among the options. It points employers to People First in Cumbria for help with adverts, DBS checks, interviews and payroll, so PA posts here are often arranged that way.

For hospital work, University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay runs Westmorland General in Kendal and Furness General in Barrow, while Penrith Community Hospital belongs to North Cumbria Integrated Care. Kendal College teaches health and social care with short courses in dementia and end of life care, and Furness College in Barrow offers the Level 2 Adult Care Worker apprenticeship.

91% of the inspected care employers in Westmorland and Furness are rated Good or Outstanding by the CQC, above the 84% across the North West and above England as a whole (85%).