What live-in care is

One person, living in the home, so the support fits the day rather than the day fitting the support.

Visiting care works in blocks. Someone arrives, does what can be done in the time, and leaves. For a lot of people that is exactly right. For others it is the wrong shape: the help is needed at unpredictable moments, or the hours have quietly grown until several visits a day cost more than having somebody there.

A live-in worker is there through the day, so a cup of tea at four in the afternoon is not a scheduling problem. They cook, help with personal care, keep the house running, go out with the person, and are there when something goes wrong at an inconvenient hour.

How the rotation works. A worker stays for two to three weeks at a time and is then relieved by their counterpart, so the person has a small, settled pair of faces rather than a stranger every fortnight. The exact pattern is agreed for each placement and written into the plan, along with what happens if someone is ill.

Being straight about it

Live-in care is not a member of staff on duty for twenty-four hours, and any provider who implies otherwise is telling you something that cannot be delivered safely or lawfully.

• The worker needs their own room, and somewhere to sit that is not the same chair they work from.
• They need proper breaks and uninterrupted sleep. Where someone needs help through the night most nights, that is a waking-night or two-worker arrangement, not live-in, and we will say so at the assessment.
• Cover is part of the arrangement. Workers take leave and get ill. How that is covered is written into the plan before anything starts.
• It is not nursing care. Where clinical tasks are needed, that is a different registration and a different provider, alongside us or instead of us.

What it costs

From £1,675 a week, depending on what the person needs.

Across the UK, live-in care generally runs between about £1,200 and £2,000 a week, and more where two workers or waking nights are needed. We sit towards the upper end of that range for one reason: our live-in workers are employed by us. They are paid properly, they get holiday and a pension, they are covered when they are ill, and they are not self-employed people introduced to you by a matching website who disappear when something goes wrong. That costs more and we would rather say so than quote you a figure that only works if somebody is being underpaid.

What the weekly figure covers: the worker’s pay and all employment costs, their replacement on rotation, cover for holiday and sickness, their travel to and from the placement, training, DBS checks, insurance, and an office you can reach. What it does not cover: the worker’s room and meals, which the household provides, and anything in the home itself.

Complex arrangements, two workers, and waking nights are quoted separately. We give you the figure after the assessment, and we show you what it is made of.

It is a starting figure rather than a rate card, because the weekly cost depends on what the person actually needs, whether one worker is sufficient, and what cover has to be built in. What we will not do is quote you a number before anyone has met the person and then revise it upwards, which is how families end up feeling misled.

Live-in care here is arranged privately. Where a local authority or NHS funding is involved, say so at the first conversation and we will tell you honestly whether we can work within it.