Care Assistant – Salary

Care assistant – professional field

Do you have no professional training, but would still like to work with old people? Since 2008, the care reform has also made it possible for people who have not yet completed any training to take up the profession of care assistant.

• To do this, you will complete a course that lasts around 420 hours and includes an internship. You will learn about basic care such as washing, the correct positioning of bedridden people and social interaction with the elderly. In addition, there are qualifications in hygiene, housekeeping, communication and care.

• After successfully completing your training, you will work in old people’s and nursing homes, primarily with residents suffering from dementia, where you will receive a salary that is fixed by collective agreement, but you can also work in private family and home care. Here you can then negotiate a reasonable salary.

You can expect this salary

• As a care assistant, you support the nursing staff and take on the tasks for which there is no time in the daily routine. You can go for walks, cook and bake or play games with the more energetic residents. Keep bedridden elderly people company by reading to them, listening to them, or just being there for them. The salary you get depends entirely on how many hours you work per month.

• If you are lucky enough to be employed full-time (32 hours), you can expect a gross salary of between EUR 1,200 and EUR 1,700 in the individual federal states, depending on the tariff.

• For a part-time contract (20 hours), depending on the region, you can expect to pay around EUR 800 to EUR 900 gross. However, many public institutions only hire a care assistant on a marginal basis, which would give you an income of 450 euros.

If you choose this profession, remember that you will improve the quality of life of people in need of care enormously. Even if you enjoy dealing with old people, you must be mentally very resilient, be able to handle stress well and have a high sense of responsibility.