The short answer
- You set your own rateHourly visits typically run £18 to £25 an hour and live-in placements from £1,050 a week. That figure is what a family sees and pays, not a wage someone else decides for you.
- Harder jobs and longer bookings pay moreComplex or specialist live-in care and caring for a couple both carry a higher day rate than standard personal care, and a full working week of hourly visits adds up faster than a few hours here and there.
- PrimeCarers pays well ahead of the minimum wageOur hourly range sits comfortably above the National Living Wage of £12.71 and the real Living Wage of £13.45 (£14.8 in London).
- Getting started costs nothing but your timeRegistering a profile, arranging the checks and setting your rate are all free. The tax and National Insurance you owe as a self-employed carer are covered further down this page.
Figures are what carers on PrimeCarers charge, £18 to £25 an hour and from £1,050 a week for live-in, with our fee included, checked 6 September 2026.
Hourly pay
What you can charge for hourly visits
Every carer on PrimeCarers sets their own hourly rate. What a family pays for a visit is exactly the figure you set, not a wage handed down after somebody else has taken a cut.
| An hour | What it means for you | |
|---|---|---|
| PrimeCarers | £18–£25 | You set this rate yourself. Our fee comes out of it before you're paid, so it's the same number a family sees and the number you're paid from. |
| A home care agency | £28–£35 | That is what the agency charges the family for the same visit. The agency then sets your wage separately, usually lower, and keeps the difference. |
| Working fully independently | Whatever you agree directly | You keep all of it, but there is no introduction to families, no enhanced DBS route, and no insurance while you work unless you arrange your own. |
PrimeCarers
- An hour
- £18–£25
- What it means for you
- You set this rate yourself. Our fee comes out of it before you're paid, so it's the same number a family sees and the number you're paid from.
A home care agency
- An hour
- £28–£35
- What it means for you
- That is what the agency charges the family for the same visit. The agency then sets your wage separately, usually lower, and keeps the difference.
Working fully independently
- An hour
- Whatever you agree directly
- What it means for you
- You keep all of it, but there is no introduction to families, no enhanced DBS route, and no insurance while you work unless you arrange your own.
PrimeCarers and agency figures are advertised UK rates, checked 6 September 2026, with our fee included. Agency figures are typical market rates rather than PrimeCarers prices.
Shifts of six hours or more are usually advertised a little lower per hour, £18, because the work comes as one block rather than several shorter visits with travel between them. Companionship visits, sitting with someone rather than providing personal care, are typically advertised lower again, £15 to £20 an hour. Why become a private carer? sets out the case for setting your own rate against the alternatives in more detail.
Live-in pay
What a live-in placement is worth
Live-in care is priced by the week rather than the hour. The day rate you set reflects being in the house through the day and on hand overnight, not a count of hours worked.
£1,050
a week to start, companionship and light help
£1,120
a week, typical for standard personal care
£1,750
a week, complex or specialist care
£1,350
a week, caring for a couple
PrimeCarers advertised rates, 6 September 2026, with our fee included.
A live-in day tends to run to 8 to 10 hours of hands-on support, with the carer on hand overnight and rotating in with a partner carer for breaks, rather than working around the clock. A traditional live-in agency typically charges a family upwards of £1,400 a week for a comparable placement, then pays its own carer a wage out of that figure. On PrimeCarers, the day rate on your profile is both what the family pays and what you are paid, once our fee is taken out. How much is a live-in carer paid? sets out the full range by level of need, and how does live-in care work? covers a typical day hour by hour.
What it adds up to
What the numbers add up to over a week or a year
Four ways carers commonly work on PrimeCarers, and what each is worth. Use whichever is closest to how you want to work, not as a target to hit.
- 1
A few hours around other commitments
£180–£250 a week10 hours a week, spread across two or three visits, at the rate you set for a short visit, £18 to £25 an hour.
- 2
A full working week of hourly visits
£630–£875 a week35 hours a week at £18 to £25 an hour. Kept up every week of the year, that is £32,760 to £45,500, a hypothetical ceiling rather than what any particular week looks like.
- 3
One long shift instead of several short visits
£144 for an 8-hour shiftShifts of six hours or more are advertised at a lower rate per hour, £18, because the work comes as one block rather than several separate visits with travel between them.
- 4
A live-in placement
£1,050–£1,400 a weekFrom companionship at £1,050 a week to complex or specialist care up to £1,750, or around £1,350 for a couple. One flat rate for the week rather than an hourly one.
What changes what you earn
What changes what you earn
A handful of things push a carer's own rate up, and they are mostly about the work itself rather than luck.
Complex or specialist care
Longer visits and steadier bookings
How this compares
How PrimeCarers pay compares with the minimum wage
It helps to see PrimeCarers' rates next to the wage floors set for the whole economy, and against what a typical UK employee earns in a year.
| An hour | What it is | |
|---|---|---|
| PrimeCarers hourly range | £18–£25 | Set by each carer, not a wage. |
| National Living Wage (21 and over) | £12.71 | The legal minimum every employer must pay, from 1 April 2026. |
| Real Living Wage, UK | £13.45 | An independently calculated, voluntary rate from the Living Wage Foundation, reflecting the cost of living. |
| Real Living Wage, London | £14.8 | The London equivalent of the same voluntary rate. |
PrimeCarers hourly range
- An hour
- £18–£25
- What it is
- Set by each carer, not a wage.
National Living Wage (21 and over)
- An hour
- £12.71
- What it is
- The legal minimum every employer must pay, from 1 April 2026.
Real Living Wage, UK
- An hour
- £13.45
- What it is
- An independently calculated, voluntary rate from the Living Wage Foundation, reflecting the cost of living.
Real Living Wage, London
- An hour
- £14.8
- What it is
- The London equivalent of the same voluntary rate.
Government and Living Wage Foundation figures checked 6 September 2026. The National Living Wage and the real Living Wage apply to employees; carers on PrimeCarers are self-employed and set their own rate, so neither is a legal floor on what you can charge, only a point of comparison.
A full working week of hourly visits at the top of PrimeCarers' range, kept up every week of the year, comes to more than the median full-time salary in the UK, £39,039 in April 2025 according to the Office for National Statistics, and well above the median UK household's income after tax and benefits, £36,700. Reaching those figures depends on how many hours you work and how steady your bookings are, which is why the ladder above matters more than any single number.
How to start
From this page to your first paid visit
Four steps, and the first three do not cost anything beyond your time.
- 1
Decide your rate
TodayLook at the ranges above and set a rate that reflects your experience and the kind of care you want to do. You can change it later as you build a reputation. - 2
Get your checks in place
This weekRegistering brings the enhanced DBS route, kept current on the Update Service, plus the identity, right to work and online interview a family expects to see before they book you. - 3
Set up your profile
FreeYour rate, your experience and your availability, written out plainly, are what a family reads before they message you. - 4
Tell HMRC once you take your first booking
Within a month of startingYou are self-employed from your first paid visit, so the tax and National Insurance that follow are yours to sort.
I want to be a carer, but how? covers the three routes into paid care work in more detail, and how to pay tax as a self-employed carer and self-employed carer documents cover what to have ready once you take your first booking.
Questions
Questions carers ask about pay
It depends on the hours you take on and the kind of care you provide. Hourly visits typically run £18 to £25 an hour, and live-in placements from £1,050 a week, rising to £1,750 or more for complex or specialist care. You set your own rate rather than being paid a wage someone else decides. I want to be a carer, but how? covers the three routes into paid care work.
On PrimeCarers, typically £1,120 a week, from £1,050 for companionship and light help up to £1,750 for complex or specialist care, or around £1,350 for caring for a couple. How much is a live-in carer paid? breaks the figure down further.
Not quite. The rate on your profile is what a family sees and pays, but PrimeCarers' service fee comes out of that before you're paid, so your take-home each visit is a little less than the figure you post. There is no separate, hidden number a family pays on top; the fee is already inside the rate you set.
Yes. Advanced dementia, hoisting, a stoma or PEG feed and similar specialist needs carry a higher day rate for live-in work, because families are paying for experience as much as for hands-on tasks. Caring for a couple typically adds around a fifth to the rate, not double, since most of the work is the same whichever one of them needs the hands-on help.
PrimeCarers' hourly range, £18 to £25, sits well above the National Living Wage of £12.71 for workers aged 21 and over from April 2026, and above the real Living Wage too, £13.45 across the UK and £14.8 in London. Neither wage floor applies directly to you as a self-employed carer, but they are a useful point of comparison. Minimum wage rates, on gov.uk.
An agency typically charges a family £28 to £35 an hour for a visit, then sets its own carer's wage separately, usually lower, and keeps the rest to cover its overheads. On PrimeCarers, the rate you set is the rate a family pays, and it is also the figure you are paid from once our fee is taken out, so there is only one number rather than two.
Yes. Carers on PrimeCarers are self-employed, so you are responsible for registering with HMRC, keeping records and paying your own Income Tax and National Insurance, in the same way as any other self-employed person. How to pay tax as a self-employed carer walks through registering and filing.