24-hour care at home
Choose DBS-checked carers to cover every hour in your relative's own home: one live-in carer who sleeps in the house, or day and night carers on a rota when somebody needs to be awake. You meet them first and agree the care with them.
Prefer to talk it through? Call 0203 369 3624
How it works
Twenty-four hour care means somebody is in the house at every hour. It does not say whether that person is awake at three in the morning, and that one detail can double the weekly cost. On PrimeCarers you can cover the day and the night in either of these ways, or combine them.
from £1,050 a week
about £1,120 is typical
When it fits: Your relative settles at night and there is a spare room. Two live-in carers can take turns, a week or a fortnight each, at the same weekly rate.
about £2,793 a week
with somebody awake every night
When it fits: There is no spare room, or your relative needs somebody awake at every hour and nobody wants a carer living in.
about £2,156 a week
A live-in carer covers the day and goes to bed properly, and a waking night carer arrives in the evening and stays awake until morning, at about £148 a night on top of the live-in week. Many families add waking nights only on the nights that are hard, rather than seven from the start, so the week costs less.
Which one you need
One carer can manage a full day of ordinary care. What happens after your relative goes to bed tells you whether one person is enough. Before you choose, keep a note for a week of each time they needed somebody overnight, what for, and how long it took. It is also what you will send to the carers you talk to.
If dementia is making the evenings and nights harder, read 24-hour dementia care at home.
| If the nights look like this | What usually fits |
|---|---|
| Sleeps through, or gets up once for the toilet | One live-in carer. A sleeping night in the house is what the live-in rate assumes. |
| Needs somebody three or more times a night, most nights | A live-in carer by day and a waking night carer, or a rota with waking nights. One carer cannot work the day and the night for long. |
| Wanders, tries to go out, or wakes confused after dark | Somebody awake. It is worth asking the GP as well, since a change to medication or the evening routine sometimes helps. |
| Needs turning, or medication at set times overnight | A waking night carer. Care to a timetable at night means somebody has to stay awake. |
| Needs a hoist, or two people for every transfer | Two carers in the house. Two live-in carers together are about £2,240 a week, and need two spare rooms. |
| There is no spare room for a carer | A rota of day and night carers, with nobody living in. |
What it costs
One live-in carer costs about the same as a residential care home place, which is about £1,160 a week. Somebody awake every night costs more than a nursing home place at about £1,410. A care home fee includes food and heating, so add those back before comparing. The care home figures are typical fees, not our prices.
Check the help with paying before you fund it all yourselves. Attendance Allowance at the higher rate, £114.60 a week, is for help day and night and is not means-tested, and NHS Continuing Healthcare can pay for care at home where the main need is a health need.
£1,050 to £1,400
a week
One live-in carer
Sleeping nights. Covering the carer's daily break with an hourly carer adds about £252 to £350.
about £2,156
a week
Live-in carer and a waking night carer
Seven waking nights at about £148 each on top of a live-in week. Fewer nights cost less.
£2,793
a week
Day and night rota, nobody living in
13-hour days at £18 an hour and a waking night carer every night.
from about £2,376
a week
Complex care with waking nights
For a feeding tube, suction or similar, the person’s nurse or healthcare team must train each carer and give written instructions, and the carer must be competent and willing. PrimeCarers does not assess or supervise this, and the insurance we arrange does not cover clinical procedures. In an emergency the carer calls 999.
Weekly figures are what families pay carers on PrimeCarers, with our fee included. Each carer sets their own rate, so the exact price is on each profile and nothing here is a quote. Night shifts run about 11 hours.
How it works
No assessment visits, no waiting list. Some families are talking to a carer the same day.
See the carers who cover it, with photos, rates, experience and reviews. Filter by hourly, live-in or overnight.
Message them directly, or tell us what you need and we can suggest some carers to look at. The choice is always yours.
A call, a video chat or a visit, free and before anything is booked. A lot of families have a good idea within the first ten minutes.
The contract and payment run through us, and visits booked here are covered by the carer insurance policy we arrange, within its terms. You can add visits, add nights, or move to live-in care as things change, and you only pay for care that happens.
Safety first
Read the carer’s profile, discuss relevant experience and ask questions before agreeing care. Our published checks and terms explain the support available.
Before a carer appears, we check their ID and right to work, see an enhanced DBS check (PVG in Scotland, Access NI in Northern Ireland) issued within the last 2 years, and interview them online. We do not check qualifications, training or references. References and reviews on a profile are not verified by us, so ask each carer about the skills and training your relative’s care needs.
Visits booked through PrimeCarers are covered by the carer insurance policy we arrange, within its terms. It does not cover clinical procedures (other than prompting or handing over oral medicines), and tasks such as giving medicines or moving and handling are covered only where the carer has been trained for them. Work arranged outside the platform is not covered. Read the policy before you rely on it.
Contact the PrimeCarers team for help using the service, discussing options or resolving a platform issue. You and your chosen carer agree and direct the care.
Ask our team for help seeking alternative carers if arrangements change. Agree a cover plan in advance: availability and replacement start dates need confirmation.
Reviews
"Excellent - Lovely lady. My mother is so pleased with the work she does in helping her."
Read the full review"Julia is a highly skilled and companionate carer who is able to give so much of herself and adapt to any situation."
Read the full review"My son who he is caring for automatically welcomed Andres and can be heard laughing & having fun with Andres."
Read the full reviewQuestions families ask
It depends on whether anybody needs to be awake at night. One live-in carer who sleeps in the house costs £1,050 to £1,400 a week on PrimeCarers, with our fee included, and about £1,120 is typical. A live-in carer with a waking night carer every night is about £2,156. Carers on shifts with nobody living in cost about £2,793. What 24-hour care costs has the monthly and yearly figures.
One live-in carer, there through the day and asleep in the house at night, is the simplest form of 24-hour care. The difference comes when somebody needs to be awake at every hour, because one carer cannot do that and a second carer is needed for the nights. If anybody quotes you for 24-hour care, ask whether the carer sleeps. Live-in care or 24-hour care goes through the signs.
One live-in carer can cover the day and a settled night, because they sleep in the house and get up if needed. They need a break each day, about two hours, and time off across the year, so somebody else covers those hours. If your relative needs them several times most nights, one carer is not enough.
Look at the gaps. If a fall, a missed meal or a wander out of the house happens between visits, or the family is staying over every night to be safe, it is time to look at somebody living in. Keep a note of the nights for a week: that tells you whether one live-in carer is enough or whether somebody needs to be awake.
Check before paying it all yourselves. Attendance Allowance at the higher rate, £114.60 a week in 2026/27, is for people over State Pension age who need help day and night, and it is not means-tested. NHS Continuing Healthcare can fund the whole package at home where the main need is a health need. The council can assess your relative's needs, and if it contributes you can ask for direct payments so you still choose the carer. Help paying for care puts every route in one place.
One live-in carer, at about £1,120 a week, costs about the same as a typical care home place at £1,160. Somebody awake every night costs more than a nursing home place at £1,410. A care home fee includes food and heating, so add those back to the home figure before comparing. These care home figures are typical fees, not our prices.
For live-in care, yes: the carer needs a room of their own to sleep in. A waking night carer does not need a bedroom, only somewhere to sit near your relative. Without a spare room, a rota of day and night carers is the usual alternative, and it costs more.
When two or more carers share the week, somebody has to hold the rota and plan cover. Many families do it themselves. If you would like help, the optional managed service adds 5% to the rate for a monthly account check-in and help with scheduling, and Fully Managed, for live-in care only, adds 10% for more admin help. You still choose the carers and decide what care is given.
Under the client contract, a visit or a week you cancel is payable in full, except for unplanned hospitalisation, illness, or another reason you and the carer agree. Notice to end live-in care is seven days once the carer has worked 168 hours, and 48 hours before that; for hourly care it is 48 hours. Bank holidays are charged at one and a half times the carer's rate and Christmas Day at twice. Travel is only charged if agreed in advance in writing. Read the contract.
PrimeCarers is an introductory service, not a care agency. Carers on PrimeCarers are self-employed, and you and the carer agree the care between you. Before a carer appears, we check their ID and right to work, see an enhanced DBS check (PVG in Scotland, Access NI in Northern Ireland) issued within the last 2 years, and interview them online. We do not check qualifications, training or references, so ask each carer about the experience your relative's care needs. What we check, and what we don’t.
Guides
Search live-in carers by postcode, compare their weekly rates and reviews, and talk to the ones you like about the days and the nights. It is free, and there is no obligation.
