Make everyday moments more meaningful through companionship
Join Longetra’s Human Companion programme and help people enjoy conversation, shared interests, social activities and greater connection with their communities.
Paid and voluntary roles. No account is needed to check whether you can apply, and nothing you enter in the check identifies you.
Can you apply?
A few questions before anything else, so we don’t take you through a long application we can’t act on.
What Human Companions do
Company, and help with ordinary things somebody has agreed they would like. Each visit is for what was booked.
Conversation and company
A chat over a cup of tea, and time spent together.
Hobbies and shared interests
Games, music, crafts, the garden — whatever the person enjoys.
Getting out
A walk, a café, a local group or an event, going along together.
Everyday technology
Help with a phone or a tablet, or setting up a video call with family.
Memories and life stories
Looking back together, and talking about the things that matter.
Taking part locally
Encouragement, and company, to join in with activities nearby.
Everyday practical help
Light tasks around the house, shopping and errands, as agreed for the visit.
What Human Companions do not do
The role is company, not care. Whoever asks for it:
- No personal or intimate care
- No nursing tasks or clinical observations
- No giving, prompting or managing medicines
- No medical advice, diagnosis or treatment decisions
- No moving and handling
- No deciding whether somebody has mental capacity
- No emergency or medical response
A Human Companion is not a replacement for a care worker, a nurse or any other health or care professional. If somebody needs that kind of help, a Companion says so and reports it; they do not step in.
How joining works
Everybody goes through checks and training before they visit anybody, whether they’re employed, working bank hours or volunteering. Creating an account and applying does not make you a Companion: that takes approval.
Step 1: Check you can apply
A few questions first, before you give us anything about yourself. If we can’t take your application we tell you there and then.
Step 2: Apply
You create an account and fill in the application in six short stages. It is saved as you go, so you can stop and come back.
Step 3: Checks and references
Identity, your right to work, references, and the criminal record check the role is eligible for. We ask your referees directly — they answer a short form and don’t need an account.
Step 4: Training
Safeguarding and what the role is and is not come first. Training you already hold can count: bring the certificate and we’ll look at it rather than making you sit it again.
Step 5: Approval
A person decides, and your Companion Passport shows what has been checked. Only then can you be offered visits, and you agree to each one before it is booked.
Being approved does not guarantee visits. Visits depend on who has asked for a Companion near you and on what you are available for, and you are free to say no to any that is offered.
About the checks
We check who you are, your right to work, and your references, and we carry out a criminal record check. Which level of criminal record check a role is eligible for depends on what the role involves, and is assessed for each person rather than assumed.
Having something on your record does not automatically rule you out — we look at what it was, how long ago, and what it has to do with this work, and a person makes that decision rather than a rule. We’ll tell you either way, and we’ll tell you why.
We keep the result of your check and who verified it. We don’t keep a copy of the certificate, and the organisations we work with never see any of it.
Safeguarding, and support for you
Human Companions are expected to follow Longetra’s safeguarding procedures and report concerns through the appropriate channels. You are given clear guidance on what to do, and who to contact, when something doesn’t feel right. If somebody is in immediate danger, you call 999.
What Longetra is not
Longetra is a non-clinical service. That means:
- No diagnosis, assessment, monitoring or treatment of any medical condition
- No clinical advice, and no support for clinical decisions
- No managing, giving or recommending medicines
- No detecting or screening for dementia, cognitive impairment or mental-health conditions
- No assessment of mental capacity
- No prediction of loneliness, risk or deterioration about a person
- No emergency medical response
- No personal care — such as washing, dressing or help with eating — from a Human Companion
Longetra does not replace healthcare professionals, care providers or the emergency services. For a medical concern, contact a GP, pharmacist or NHS 111. If somebody is in immediate danger, call 999.
Already started an application?
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