How old do you have to be to be a carer?

The reason the answer changes with who you work for is that the two kinds of care work are arranged differently. An employed care worker works for a care home or an agency, which is responsible for their training, their supervision and their rota. The young worker rules protect employees, and an employer can build a 16 year old's first months around them.

A self-employed carer on PrimeCarers is in a different position. You agree a contract directly with each client, set your own rate and decide how you work, often on your own in somebody's home, and registering starts at 18. If you are weighing up the two kinds of work, self-employed or agency carer compares them in full, and the other guides for carers are on Carer resources.

The night rule matters most in care, because so much of the work happens early in the morning and late at night. On gov.uk the exceptions that let a 16 or 17 year old work between 10pm and 6am include hospitals, hotels and retail, but not care homes or home care. In exceptional circumstances a young worker can work at night if no adult is available, and the employer must then give a rest period of the same length.

Skills for Care's guidance on employing workers aged 16 and 17 also sets out what a good employer does. It says a young worker should be on a social care learning programme, often an apprenticeship, and treated where possible as an extra member of a team. The registered manager should assess whether you are competent and confident before you do tasks such as personal care out of sight of experienced colleagues. The person you support, or their advocate, should consent to you providing their care. It also says inexperienced workers should never be left in charge of a care setting or to work on their own. CQC's chief inspector for adult social care wrote in support of the guidance.

You are paid at least the National Minimum Wage for your age, and apprentices have their own rate. The current figures are on gov.uk's minimum wage rates page. If you are not an apprentice, your minimum rises when you turn 18 and again at 21. Apprentices under 19 are paid at least the apprentice rate.

In Scotland, the Scottish Social Services Council has its own guide for employers of 16 and 17 year olds in social care.

An apprenticeship is the most direct of these, because you are employed in care from the first day and the training is part of the job. Apprenticeships are advertised on gov.uk's find an apprenticeship service, and Skills England publishes the adult care worker standard that sets out what the apprenticeship covers. You can apply while you are still at school, as long as you will be 16 by the end of the summer holidays.

A T Level suits somebody who wants to stay in college and keep options open, including nursing. The T Level in Health is classroom based with a long placement, so it is less about earning at 16 and more about what you are qualified for at 18.

Whichever route you take, the training counts later. The Care Certificate and a Level 2 or 3 Diploma in Adult Care are what families and employers ask about, and training for private carers explains what each one involves. If you are not sure which kind of care work you want, I want to be a carer, but how? sets out the routes in side by side.

1. 1

   Your identity

   Online

   A digital identity check through Yoti, from your own phone.
2. 2

   Your right to work

   Online

   A valid British or Irish passport checked digitally, or a share code from gov.uk for everyone else.
3. 3

   An enhanced DBS check

   Kept current

   Issued within the last 18 months, and renewed every 18 months.
4. 4

   A recorded video interview

   About 45 minutes

   Fourteen questions in one sitting, with no pausing and one retake of each answer. It is online, and it looks at whether you are caring, not at clinical knowledge.

Those are the checks, and they are the same for every carer whatever their age. Qualifications and training are not part of them: they sit on your profile in your own words, for families to read and talk through with you. Right to work checks for carers covers the passport and share code step, and the carer interview questions guide explains what to expect from the interview. If you are on a Health and Care Worker visa, the rules on extra work are set out in visas and self-employment.

Being self-employed at 18 brings responsibilities an employed job at the same age does not. Nothing is taken off for tax before you are paid, so you register with HMRC and set money aside yourself, and how to pay tax as a self-employed carer walks through it. You set your own rate, and what carers earn on PrimeCarers shows what reaches you after our commission.

When you are ready, you can register as a carer on PrimeCarers and start the checks. If you would like to look at the work first, see the carer jobs open near you.

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The law sets a minimum age for care work but no maximum. The default retirement age of 65 was abolished, and gov.uk's page on retirement age says you can usually work for as long as you want to. The law also protects you against age discrimination: gov.uk notes that you do not have to give your date of birth when you apply for a new job.