3 High Earning Career Paths in Elder Care

People often think of elder care as a low pay, high demand job. It requires a lot of patience but doesn’t necessarily demand any specialist knowledge. While this can be the case, jobs in a care home can also be the start of larger careers, especially for those who are passionate about helping the elderly.

So let’s take a look at some of the UK’s highest earning nursing home career paths and how you can get started on the road to success.

Carehome Manager

Salary Expectation: £40,000 – £70,000

Good management is vital to any organisation and care homes are no exception. While it might not sound like a glamorous job, a manager has the very real chance to make a huge difference in the lives of both patients and carers.

From handling the budget to working with staff, the manager’s decisions have a huge impact on residents’ quality of life. Being a manager means a lot of responsibility but it can also be very fulfilling, especially as you develop your team and encourage people to work together.

Care home managers can earn a lot of money because they’re the engine that keeps the operation going. Yes it can be stressful but your work has the potential to translate directly into other people’s happiness.

Regional Manager

Salary Expectation: £60,000 – £90,000

If you really excel in the organisational and administrative side of things, you could go on to become a regional manager, working to coordinate multiple care homes and overseeing the business side of things. This more senior position combines leadership, strategy, and the chance to influence care standards across multiple locations.

Responsibilities for a regional manager often include supporting and mentoring care home managers, monitoring performance, and balancing budgets. In essence, it’s a very similar role to that of a care home manager but on a larger scale.

For regional managers, people skills are a must. Care home managers need to have excellent people skills but, for the most part, they do get to work with the same team, getting to know people and building working relationships over time. Regional managers often have to interact with new people they’ve never met before and as such it’s very important to be good at working with complete strangers.

It also goes without saying that a role like this one really demands a detailed understanding of care at every level. You have to understand the financials and the company structure but you also have to know the individual needs of patients and carers. A regional manager is someone who balances all these needs and is comfortable spinning many plates at the same time.

Clinical Lead

Salary Expectation: £45,000 – £60,000

A Clinical Lead is a registered nurse who oversees the clinical side of a care home. They manage the nursing team, ensure care plans are safe and effective, monitor compliance, and work closely with the care home manager to maintain a high standard of care.

On the day to day, a Clinical Lead supervises and mentors nurses and care staff while also handling a variety of administrative and organisational duties. It’s their job to manage medications, help with care planning, and liaise with other specialists such as GPs and pharmacists.

All told it’s a role that combines clinical confidence with first rate people skills and, as such, it takes both experience and expertise.

While you can become a manager on the back of experience alone, a Clinical Lead does need to be registered as a nurse which, in turn, will mean getting a degree. That said, this can be done as part of your career path via apprenticeship/training programs.

Ultimately, if you’re more drawn to the medical and technical side of being a carer then this could be the perfect path for you.

Is Elder Care Right For You?

When first getting into the world of elder care, many people see it as a short term option. After all, with an aging population and ever growing demand for this industry, there’s no shortage of entry level positions available.

Whether you’ve come to this industry out of a real passion for helping the elderly or it’s just a stop gap job, we hope we’ve convinced you that there are amazing possibilities for your career in elder care. When all’s said and done, elder care is an industry where hard work can pay off and those who are dedicated to their roles can really thrive.