Dog walking, shopping and time for tea and a chat are just some of the services offered to older people in their own homes by Ramsgate carer Victoria Brisley.
The 34-year-old, who has previous experience in the care industry, is looking forward to celebrating a year in business this Spring after launching Many Helping Hands thanks to a Jobcentre scheme.
Victoria took the plunge into self-employment after being helped to put together a business plan and learning about dealing with sole trader finances through the new enterprise scheme.
She said: “I have looked after family members and friends who needed help in their old age whether it was personal care or the jobs they could no longer do.
“I was a carer for a number of years in both care homes and domiciliary. I love looking after people in their own homes and doing the jobs they can no longer do or find difficult. Clients looked forward to you coming to support them and make some feel less lonely. I studied my level 2 in Health and Social Care and this gave me the background knowledge to keep clients safe and how to support clients with certain diseases such as dementia.
“Many Helping Hands provides professional support to the elderly in their own homes. We provide cleaning, shopping, dog walking, companionship visits and a selection of other services.
“Going into business was scary at first but then it all clicked into place. What I really enjoy is being with people, finding out about their stories and supporting them when they need it.”
Many Helping Hands runs seven days a week. Victoria is DBS checked and fully insured.
Find out more on the website here
Self-employed on the isle
Government figures for July 2017-June 2018 show Thanet had 14,000 people registered as self-employed equating to 14.1$% of the isle’s working age population. This is higher than the 10.6% national average. In 2018 Thanet had 3,440 recorded micro-business enterprises of 9 employees or less and 355 small businesses of 10-49 employees.
Find out about help available through the New Enterprise Scheme here