Call us or email us for more information on the services we provide.  If you haven’t received a service from us before, we will need to meet with you (the person receiving the services) to conduct an in-home assessment. This usually lasts about one hour. This is simply a way to get to know you better, your needs, your interests, the living environment and thus enabling us to tailor a service just for you. During this meeting you can ask us questions and get to know us. Once we have done the assessment, we will match a suitable carer and our service begins. However, it remains flexible. We don’t do rigid long-term contracts that lock you into services you don’t need. You can call or email us for amendments, increased support, decreased support etc, whenever you need it. Any scheduling can be done over the phone or via email with minimal delay.

All services have a one-hour minimum duration. We try to stick to our core territory covering the Metropolitan Borough of Solihull and the District of Warwick, but we are happy to help people outside this area though this will generally require a longer minimum visit and mileage charges to compensate our companions/carers for the longer journeys. We use a simple pricing schedule; you can request this from us if our services are of interest.

Most of the people who provide services for Seniors Helping Seniors are seniors themselves (mature and experienced, typically ranging from their 40s and older). Though for us, age is irrelevant, it is more about the carer being experienced, trustworthy and able to provide an amazing service. Our carers are employed by us on a flexible basis, and we are proud to be a Living Wage Employer. We pay above the Real Living Wage rate set by the Living Wage Foundation, which itself is significantly above the government’s minimum wage. Every person has been through a careful and diligent selection process, as we know our carers ultimately make the services what they are. We make sure our carers are caring, giving, loving and compassionate people with a strong interest in helping others. Many of our carers have been caregivers for a loved one or have been in a caring profession and have a desire to help others. We ensure that services are provided by the same carer, or small team of carers depending on the schedule you need as we know how important that is to our clients. We will have a ‘backup’ in place for times of illness or emergency.

Our carers work in their own clothes (no uniforms). We believe this makes our service much more like a friend popping round and means even those resistant to help can accept it more readily. Carers carry ID passes with photographs.

You pay for services in arrears. We will send you an invoice at the start of the month, following the month where services were carried out (based on the schedule you asked for). Our invoices need to be paid within 5 days and we offer several payment methods. Our invoices will include items of shopping purchased and expenses incurred during the month. 

We do not ask you to sign a contract that would commit you to a specific period of service time.  However, we do have a few basic expectations of the Client (such as providing a safe environment, providing any of the materials or tools we would use to do housecleaning, garden work etc.). Seniors Helping Seniors carers are covered for liability while we are working with you in your home. Our Terms and Conditions will be sent to you prior to taking services from us and are taken as accepted when our services start.

Once we have an agreement with you to start services, you can call us at any point for amendments to services, increased or decreased frequency of services or changes to the weekly schedule. We will make every effort to respond to your request, but it is always a good idea to plan and give us as much notice as possible (a week’s notice is a good rule of thumb, but we will do our best with shorter timescales if required).

Seniors Helping Seniors has a comprehensive process which we follow with all carers. We invest time in this process so when our carer visits you, you have peace of mind that we know that carer well. We perform telephone screening, application form process, in-person interview, full reference checks and an enhanced DBS check which includes an Adult Barred List check. Prior to starting any service, our carers will be given a full orientation so that they fully understand the client’s needs, background, interests, and surroundings. Our staff are essentially vetted in a similar way to NHS and Care Home staff.

If the service takes less than one hour, we will do additional work for you to fill up the time.  If the required service takes longer than expected or paid for, we will invoice you for the additional time in 15 min increments. You can agree in advance if additional time is acceptable when required.

If you are using us regularly, we would appreciate a 1 week notice of cancellation of services whenever on-going services have been scheduled.