A YORK businessman has urged older workers in the region to consider working as carers, to help beat unemployment and improve care services.

Luke Norbury, owner and manager of Home Instead Senior Care at Clifton Moor, currently employs 23 carers to provide at-home care to elderly residents.

He said: “When I read that we are experiencing the highest level of long-term unemployment among the over-50s that we have seen in a decade I thought to myself: ‘If there are any in this area I might be able to offer them a job’.

“Because older people often want to give something back to the local community and work flexible hours they are attracted to caring for others. Our youngest care-giver in York is 19 and the eldest is 60.”

The scheme has won support from Older Citizens Advocacy York (OCAY), an organisation which provides volunteers to give elderly people in York a voice. The group’s Linda Tester said: “Demographics tell us that over the next decade there will be more available workers aged 50-plus.

“These mature workers have the benefit of long experience and enhanced life skills, which is a great bonus for employers and, of course, for users of the Home Instead service.”

Mr Norbury said: “The most important thing is that they have a caring nature, but we provide all the training so no prior experience is needed.

“The care sector is a real growth area at the moment, and that isn’t going to change.

No business is recession-proof, but I’d say that ours is recession-friendly and it would be great to think that we could offer a new career direction to people in the area.”