The cost of paid care at home and what is covered

If you're paying for support from a care support agency to help you care at home, find out how much paid care at home will cost and what's covered.

It's a good idea to check:

  • How the price is put together.
  • If it is an hourly rate for support, what sort of support does this cover? Some care provider agencies may cost more but they may have more skills and a wider range of services to support you and the person you care for. Check what extra specialist support you would be getting and how this would differ from a ‘standard’ agency.
  • Does the rate change at evenings and weekends?
  • Is care still provided on a bank holiday and what is the rate?
  • What happens if the person you care for goes on holiday or if they need to go into hospital? 
  • And what happens if you go on holiday or need to go into hospital?
  • If the care support worker takes the person you care for out, who pays for fuel/transport, entry to activities and refreshments for the care support worker and the person they care for?
  • Are there any extra charges that you need to know about?
  • Will you need to ensure access to the house if you're not around for example, a keysafe?
  • Does your provider have electronic call monitoring set up?
  • Check what will happen if you or the person with care needs require more support during the contract – how will this be charged?
  • Your support provider might want to put in an annual review of prices. Make sure you know what this is and that you are happy with this before you sign a contract with them. Find out more about annual reviews.
  • There may be circumstances when prices need to be reviewed – make sure that there is a clear process for how you will be consulted on this.

Employing a personal assistant

If the person you care for wants to employ a personal assistant they would need to become their employer.

Find out more about personal assistants.

Find out more about paying for paid care support at home

Find out more about carer's assessment and how to pay for paid care support at home.

"During the winter, Mum was in and out of hospital several times with pneumonia. The office made it really easy to cancel calls and then reinstate them with the same care team as soon as she was home again."

Joan, who cares for her mum