How flexible working at Access Social Care helps Sally balance her role and caring responsibilities.
A Day in the Life of an Administration Assistant at Access Social Care.
Sally smiling wearing a strawberry themed jumper.
Carers Week 08-14 June
Hi, I’m Sally and I work as an Administration Assistant at Access Social Care.
I’m also a carer for both my mam and my son. I’ve been balancing caring and working for a long time. I became a carer for my mam during her leukaemia treatment almost 20 years ago.
What gets you started in the morning – tea or coffee?
I’m a tea drinker, and need at least two large mugs to get started in the morning!
Tell us a little about yourself
Over the last couple of years my mam’s been needing more support, and she was diagnosed with dementia earlier this year. Last year I made the difficult decision to leave a management level role at a charity I really loved in order to better support her. I was looking for flexible part time roles in the charity sector when I came across Access Social Care’s job posting, and feel incredibly lucky that I was successful. Since October 2025 I’ve been the part-time Administration Assistant, in the Business Support Team.
How did you become an Administration Assistant?
My four criteria when looking for work were:
Part time
From home
Flexible
Work I can do
This role ticked everything, that it’s also for a charity whose mission, vision and values speak to my lived experience was a happy coincidence 😊
Throughout my career my role has always been, at some level, making systems and processes run smoothly so my client facing colleagues can focus on making a difference to the people we support, and leaders and trustees can focus on delivering on our strategic aims. I have a keen eye for detail, love a good process and am curious about how things work, so administration suits me.
How do your caring responsibilities fit into your day-to-day life?
My day is structured around caring. I work a few hours in the morning then have a long break to spend lunch with my mam. I often need to take her to appointments and activities during typical office hours.
After lunch I’ll work the remainder of my hours, although I also need to make reminder calls throughout the day. I couldn’t manage without the alarms on my phone keeping me right on what needs doing when. My son generally needs less daily support, unless there’s an appointment or a crisis.
After work I usually have a bit of time to walk the dog and deal with what needs doing in my house, before seeing my mam in the evening. A big part of supporting someone with dementia is communication to keep the brain healthy, so we’ll do an evening quiz which is always a good laugh.
Although some things are very regular there’s no telling when something unexpected will pop up.
How does flexible working at Access Social Care support you as a carer?
What’s great about ASC’s approach to flexible working is that it genuinely is flexible. If my mam’s having a bad day I don’t feel I’m having to rush back to work at a specific time. When her phone line stopping working I was able to work from her house while waiting for the engineers, rather than have to take a day off. I’m able to take her to appointments and activities during typical office hours and catch up with work later.
And I can also use flexi-time to take care of myself. In the winter I often work flexibly to walk the dog in the daylight, which boosts my mood. Or sometimes I’ll work flexibly to get to a carer support group or an exercise class.
ASC also gives paid carers leave, which I use for mam’s clinical appointments. ASC allows me to buy extra annual leave, which eases the pressure, and I feel I can take time off if things are feeling a bit much and get a real break when my brother visits and takes care of mam.
Everyone at ASC is supportive, especially my line manager and colleagues in the Business Support Team, there’s no feeling like I have to justify working flexibly.
What does your typical working day look like?
I describe my role as a ‘popcorn job’ – something’s always popping up that needs dealing with, so there isn’t really a typical day. I always start the same way though, checking my emails and the enquiries email inbox, and any messages on Teams.
After that it could be that I need to book train tickets for a team training day, support the Community Care Lawyers Group with admin around their monthly drop-in, liaise with IT Support if someone’s computer isn’t working, work with Comms on a mail out, update our CRM, format a contract and get it sent out to signatories, diarise internal events, support HR with getting equipment to a new starter… it really could be anything! I love that variety (I have a popcorn brain to match the popcorn job!) and I love that I get to work with colleagues from all areas of the charity.
As I’m often interrupted, both with new work requests and caring responsibilities, I keep a very thorough to do list on Monday.com and I always have a pen and paper to hand to note down where I’m up to. I have notifications set up to come to my inbox so that I don’t miss anything. I split tasks by how much time they’ll take, and will usually blitz the quick ones in the mornings before tacking something that requires more focus in the afternoon.
What challenges do you face as a working carer?
Carers UK recently published a report that finds nearly half of working carers (47%) are considering reducing their hours or leaving work altogether (https://www.carersuk.org/reports/the-tipping-point-when-unpaid-carers-can-no-longer-combine-work-and-care/). I’ve already been there, and I was with a flexible organisation that had good support for carers in place. It was hard to accept that I just didn’t have the headspace to cope with my mam’s journey to diagnosis and remain in a managerial role. I consider myself very lucky to have found a job which suits my caring roles.
But it isn’t always easy. On a bad day I feel that I’m not doing enough for my mam, and that’s made worse when professionals assume I’m not working and appear surprised that I am. Although I have a lot of support it’s hard to fit in three lots of life admin on top of work, appointments, activities and trying to do things for myself. It’s often the time for myself that falls off the list.
On a good day I recognise that although I still have stress in my life it isn’t coming from work. I’m spending much more time with my mam, there’s a lot of love and laughter, and I have supportive people around me, both at work and at home, who’ll remind me to look after myself when I forget.
What support at Access Social Care makes the biggest difference to you?
I think everything that supports me boils down to the culture and the team at ASC. Flexibility is built in and used by everyone, everyone benefits, and that builds a supportive workplace. I’m very open about being a carer, and whether it’s changing a meeting date to accommodate an appointment, dropping off a call to take a telephone call, or warning people if I’m a bit distracted, I’ve always been very well supported by my colleagues.
Most people will have caring responsibilities at some point in their lives, and a lot of people don’t realise that support is available or that they’re entitled to it. I hope that by talking about it, maybe, when someone else faces a similar situation, they’ll feel more confident in seeking support themselves.
Sally on a dog walk with her dog near a lake.
What’s the best part about your role?
I’m very tempted to say the fact that if there’s a big problem I can pass it up to someone else now, that’s lovely after my last role! But genuinely the best thing about ASC is the people, it’s a great team, all committed to improving the lives of people with social care needs. I love our Celebration Channel, and the Shoutouts section of all team meetings, where we get to hear what people are working on, how teams are collaborating, and the impact of the work we’re doing.
How do you wrap up your day?
Before I finish for the day I’ll check the enquiries email and deal with anything that’s come in through the day. Then I’ll update my to-do-list and check my diary for the next day. That way everything’s ready for me turning up, cup of tea in hand, the next morning.
Sum up life at Access Social Care in three words
Supportive
Collaborative
Inclusive
If you’re a carer and looking for support, there are a number of organisations that can help.
Find Carer services near you (from Carers Trust)- https://carers.org/help-for-carers/carer-services-near-you
Carers UK’s Carers Active Hub - https://www.carersuk.org/help-and-advice/your-health-and-wellbeing/carers-active-hub/
Carers Week - https://www.carersweek.org/
These resources can help connect you with advice, community and practical support wherever you are on your caring journey.