Frequently Asked Questions

The Great Care Co-op is a new approach to care and sustainable employment based on a human rights and equality framework. We provide home care services to enable old, sick and vulnerable adults to live in their homes with dignity and as much independence as possible. The co-op is owned by its members, who are the employees of the co-op. We pay decent wages, invest in our staff and we get a say in #HowCareShouldBe

The Co-op was founded by migrant women working in care to create equal opportunities for migrant women in care and to create sustainable employment for all care workers.

We are a not for profit social enterprise which means we reinvest profit into achieving positive changes in our community like providing good employment that pays better, creating inclusive workplaces for migrants and providing a friendly caring service to support people to live meaningful lives as they age.

Social enterprises are businesses that work primarily to improve the lives of people. Their core objective is to achieve a social, societal, or environmental impact. They frequently work to support disadvantaged groups such as the long-term unemployed, people with disabilities, migrants, travellers, etc., or to address issues such as food poverty, social housing, or environmental matters.

A hub is what we call the local team of care workers who work in a neighbourhood or geographic area. For example, the Dalkey Hub provides care in the greater Dalkey area. Each hub has between 6 and 12 health care assistants working in it. Carers work in their own hubs providing care to clients living only in their hub location.

Worker owned cooperatives are membership based organisations. For us, our members are the employees of the Great Care Co-op. Each member who is a registered member of The Great Care Co-op as per our membership criteria, has a say in how the co-op is run. At the Annual General Meeting (AGM) members vote on co-op business related decisions. Members run for election to join the Board of Directors and participate in committees to improve and grow the business.

You must be an employee of The Great Care Co-op and adhere to the membership criteria.

We are a start up, in the future we want to offer full time contracts to employees. At present we offer 20 hour guaranteed contracts or part time contracts. Employees do work more than 20 hours a week, but we cannot guarantee hours above this while in the startup phase.

We know that other home care agencies do not offer secure hours for carers and that home care can be a very uncertain choice of employment for this reason. We want to change this, that’s why we offer 20 guaranteed hour contracts, so you can have better security and control over your working life.

We pay €14.50 flat rate. €16 on Saturdays. €18 on Sundays and €29 on bank holidays. Our mission is to provide great jobs.We want to pay carers as much as possible and still be able to run the business. When the co-op grows and becomes bigger and generates more income, the co-op will reward employees with a wage bonus for their hard work (hopefully in 2 years time).

As a care workers cooperative, your safety is our priority. The co-op was designed by carers for carers and the board is carer run. What else is there to say? Carers are the heart and soul of The Great Care Co-op, without carers we would not exist and that is why we invest in carers because we understand that there cannot be great care without great carers and great jobs. We have a rigorous Health and Safety policy and provide training and support for staff.

The Co-op is a registered company Limited by Guarantee. Employees will register with Revenue. The Great Care Co-op is your employer and will process your wages monthly directly to your bank account. All statutory deductions including tax, PRSI or USC will be deducted from your pay at source. Your payslip will detail all information as is required under employment legislation.

The co-op provides access to ongoing training and courses in line with what is needed and legal requirements.

Hubs are support by a support service centre who handle payroll, finance, invoicing and care team support needed as well as ensuring regulatory compliance.