Most home care employers keep their pay rates vague. We don't. Here's exactly what you can earn at each stage of your career with Bluebird Care Wexford — pay that rises with your qualifications and experience, plus mileage you'd never pay out of your own pocket.
Depending on your qualifications and experience. Three clear tiers, transparent criteria, real progression.
Where you sit on this scale depends on the qualifications and experience you bring. There's no haggling, no 'depends on the candidate' smokescreen — these are the rates, and these are the criteria for each.
For carers who came in via our Pathway to Professional Care — bringing genuine experience caring for a family member — once they've completed the required QQI Level 5 modules with us.
The standard rate for HCAs joining us with prior professional homecare experience and the regulated minimum QQI qualifications already in place.
The top of our standard scale. For HCAs who've completed the full QQI Level 5 — all eight modules — alongside professional homecare experience.
These tiers aren't a ceiling — they're a starting point that reflects what you bring on day one. As you complete additional QQI modules with us or build the kind of experience that demonstrates expertise, your rate moves up the ladder. The path is open to everyone, regardless of where they enter.
Career progression in home care often comes down to 'ask your manager.' Ours doesn't. Here's the typical path from joining us to topping the scale, with the qualification milestones that move you between tiers.
Whether you arrive with full QQI qualifications or via the Pathway to Professional Care, you start work as a real HCA from day one. Pathway carers earn during their qualification period; professionally qualified carers start at their tier rate immediately.
Once a pathway carer completes both required QQI modules — Care Skills and Care of the Elderly — they move to €14.15 per hour. They're now formally qualified, recognised by the regulator, and earning the pathway rate that reflects that.
Carers with prior professional homecare experience plus QQI Level 5 in Care of the Elderly and Care Skills sit at €15.00 per hour. This is our standard qualified-HCA rate — the baseline for experienced professionals joining the team.
Carers who've completed the full eight-module QQI Level 5 alongside professional homecare experience earn up to €16.00 per hour. This is the top of our standard pay scale, reflecting the deepest qualification level for HCAs in Ireland.
Home care means moving between clients. We don't expect you to absorb the cost of your own petrol or wear-and-tear on your car. Mileage is paid on top of your hourly rate, every shift, every mile.
Every journey you make between clients during a shift is paid — both the mileage and the travel time. We track it through our scheduling system, so you don't need to claim, count, or chase it. It just appears on your wage packet.
Combined, mileage and travel time add up to the equivalent of 48 cents per mile — in line with the standard professional mileage allowance, designed to genuinely cover the cost of fuel, wear, and use of your vehicle for work purposes, plus the time you spend behind the wheel.
It applies whether you drive a car, ride an e-bike, or use an e-scooter — if you're moving between clients on our schedule, you're paid for the journey.
It shouldn't take a face-to-face interview to find out what an HCA job pays. The home care sector has a long history of vague phrases like 'competitive rates' and 'depends on experience' — and that vagueness benefits employers, not carers. We don't operate that way.
No undisclosed deductions, no 'trial period' wage cuts, no surprise penalties on your first wage packet. Your tier is set at offer stage based on the criteria above, your mileage is paid on top, and your rate moves up as your qualifications and experience grow. That's the deal — start to finish, no asterisks.
If you're not sure where your experience and qualifications sit on the ladder, the easiest thing is to give us a call. We'll talk you through it honestly — no pressure, no commitment.