Farm Families Urged To Consider Care Careers

Farming families across Wales are being encouraged to consider careers in social care as the need for carers in rural areas grows. “We need to attract and develop a skilled local workforce to deliver care and offer services to rural communities,” said Parry Davies, chair of Mid Wales Social Care Partnership. “Farming families already have many transferable skills required by the care sector, and the remainder we can develop through training.” The Partnership has produced an information pack of case studies of people from farming backgrounds who moved into the care sector.

These include cousins Jim Bowen and Piers Heneker who provide countryside holidays on a mixed farm in north Pembrokeshire for disabled people and their carers.

Nia Jones, who runs a beef and sheep farm in north Ceredigion, is also featured. For the past four years she has combined working as a nursery nurse with routine farm jobs like shearing and tractor-driving.

FUW president Gareth Vaughan added his support to the campaign, which would help the 150,000 people in Wales in receipt of care services, and provide off-farm income.

“The past 10 years have seen a significant fall in farming incomes. However, social care has grown rapidly and the sector is expected to continue to expand in the medium to long term,” said Mr Vaughan.