FAQs

As you may have seen in the news, mandatory vaccination was brought in for all care homes, but this legislation was later removed on 15 March 2022. You do not therefore need to be vaccinated as a matter of law. However, we do encourage all of our employees to be vaccinated and boosted to support the health and wellbeing of all residents within our care.

Sanctuary Care are carefully following all advice from the government and PHE about how to keep both residents and our team safe. We have completed all appropriate risk assessments and have ample PPE (personal protective equipment) to work safely. Care Home residents and employees are always prioritised in booster vaccination roll-outs. All colleagues and residents are still subject to regular testing. As guidance changes, we will adapt accordingly.

We believe that for residents lives to be full and rich, we need to prioritise the wellbeing of those that are supporting them. We have numerous initiatives in place to support mental and physical wellbeing. We also understand the importance of the working environment, our values, being heard, being challenged, having opportunities to learn and ultimately being happy at work, so we are always listening to staff and improving.  See the benefits and wellbeing pages of this site for more details.

Interviews are now mostly face to face again. However, in accordance with changing government advice, or local risk factors, you may be advised that your interview will be held over the telephone or a video call. Please raise any questions about the format of the interview when its being arranged with you, and we will support you to participate. 

Absolutely. We are looking for caring people who are passionate about enriching the lives of residents in our homes. Whatever experience you have of caring for others, and whatever attracted you to the position is interesting to us and you will still have lots to talk about at interview. We offer a comprehensive induction programme, a buddy to talk to and lots of training and development for you to start a rewarding career in care.

Absolutely. We are often looking for full time or part time employees to care for or support residents. We also offer bank contracts, on which you can decide how many hours you are available for each week (subject to availability of shifts). Discuss your hours of work during your interview to find out more information about what the home are looking for and what we can offer.

Yes, we employ young workers (here meaning those aged 16 or 17) subject to the same recruitment process as any other candidate. There is some additional guidance for young workers that are taking up care positions. There are also some additional restrictions around working hours to note. These will be discussed with you during the recruitment process.

Click on the ‘Search and Apply’ button above to find the role you are interested in and apply online. Alternatively, you can obtain application forms from your local Sanctuary care home.

We update our adverts on a regular basis, if you cannot find an advert for the home you want to work at then we are not currently advertising for that role. You can sign up to our notifications and you will be advised of all roles that are live within your area. Or check back again soon.

Your interview will depend on what position you are applying for, but in general, your interview will last approximately one hour. We will ask about your values and experience, using competency-based questions (i.e. ‘Give me an example of …’, ‘How did you manage this….?’), as well as seeking to understand what motivates you and who you are you as a person. It also gives you an opportunity to ask us any questions about the role. For more senior roles, we may also use assessments.

Do some research about the role and Sanctuary Care as an organisation. Plan for your interview day, make sure you have plenty of time to get to the venue, you know where the venue is and account for traffic or public transport issues. Dress smartly and appropriately for the position and most importantly, be yourself.

We aim to advise successful and unsuccessful applicants as soon as possible, for some roles this may take a little time as we may be interviewing multiple applicants. If you have not heard back in a week, contact the person who interviewed you to find out more.

We aim to be able to offer a start date as soon as possible following successful interview. We do need to complete some mandatory checks and documents, before you can start, due to the nature of working in a care home.

If you are unable to provide a reference from any employers, we will need two professional character references (e.g. from Teachers, Doctors, Nurses, etc.). A professional character referee is someone you know outside of work who is giving a personal recommendation for you regarding your character and abilities.

We need three documents – one should show your current address and one should show your date of birth. Some examples include: an in-date passport, an in-date Biometric Residence Permit, an in-date driving licence (provisional or full), bank statement printed in branch (not online) dated within the last three months, P45/P60 dated within the last twelve months, a utility bill dated within the last three months. We need any evidence of name changes, where applicable.

We have loads of opportunities for training and advancing your career – see our Learning and Development page for a taste of what we can offer. We support colleagues to build careers with us. Check out some of our case studies for real life examples of how you might progress with Sanctuary Care.

We are currently accepting volunteers and work experience candidates subject to government advice and local restrictions. For information on volunteering and work experience please see the volunteering page of the website. If you have any questions, you can email care.volunteer@sanctuary.co.uk. 

If your question is specific to the home, then you can contact the home directly. If your question is recruitment based, then please email the central recruitment team on care.crt@sanctuary.co.uk.  For any other questions, contact the Resourcing team on resourcing.team@sanctuary.co.uk.

If you have a complaint about any part of the recruitment process, please contact our Resourcing Team at resourcing.team@sanctuary.co.uk. If you are an employee, please contact your line manager in the first instance.