How to Become a Self-Employed Carer?

The six steps to becoming a self-employed carer are:

1. Get Qualified
2. Get DBS Checked
3. Register as a sole trader
4. Get Insured
5. Write a Contract
6. Find your Clients

Becoming a self-employed carer is becoming more accessible. Being a self-employed carer is an enriching career, whether you want to break away from an agency or switch from another role entirely. But how do you make the switch? It can be daunting to find clients, get insured, stay qualified, manage your taxes, and so on, so we’ve created this guide to help you start your own private care business.

At PrimeCarers, we help self-employed carers find and work with private clients near them. Our mission is to empower carers across the United Kingdom to get paid more, work the hours that suit them and feel happier.

What Are the Benefits of Becoming a Self-Employed Carer?

Becoming a self-employed carer allows you to pick your own clients, work your own hours and set your own rates.

Set your own rates – For many chronically underpaid carers in the traditional agency model, the rates earned by self-employed carers can be desirable. Check out our report on private carer salaries 2022 here.

Set your own schedule – For many domiciliary carers, dropping in for 30 minutes with a client before rushing to the next one sounds like a nightmare. Being able to design and manage your own schedule of clients so that you can spend a reasonable amount of time with each is usually quite an attractive idea.

Pick your own clients – When you’re working with a client for sometimes up to 12 hours a day, it’s always good to get along with them. Meeting your potential clients before agreeing to work is another excellent reason to be a self-employed carer.

Still not convinced? Discover more reasons in our article about the benefits and disadvantages of becoming a private carer.

Qualifications & Certificates

Care Certificate

While you’re not legally required to hold any qualifications to become a self-employed carer, you’ll find it much easier to attract clients if you have some qualifications to prove to potential clients that you know what you are doing.

The care certificate is the current catch-all qualification that demonstrates that you can effectively carry out essential care duties.

If you’d like a more in-depth overview of all the training options available to self-employed carers, look at our full article.

Enhanced DBS Certificate

An enhanced DBS Certificate is another way to prove to potential employers that you don’t have a criminal record and are not barred from working with children or vulnerable adults. An enhanced DBS certificate will set you back £44-60, depending on which method you use to get it.

Getting an enhanced DBS certificate can be more of a challenge. You need an employer to ask for one on your behalf, so if you’re already working for a CQC-registered agency, your employer should already have one for you. If you don’t, it might be possible to organise to get one via your local council.

Once you have acquired the certificate, REGISTER IT ON THE UPDATE SERVICE. Once you’ve registered your certificate on the update service, you won’t need to get a new one again. You can ask potential clients to check your details against the government portal. The update service costs £13/yr, but if you’re working as a self-employed carer, it’s well worth it as it is not only better but also saves money in the long run.

Company Structure

Limited Company vs Sole-Trader

Limited Company or Sole Trader is a question often posed when someone is starting a new business, but in this situation, it’s a question with an easy answer. Any ltd company providing care to a client must be registered with the CQC. If you want to structure your business as a limited company, you would need to go and become CQC registered, with the inspections, legal requirements for training, reporting and care managers that come with being an agency.

For most self-employed carers hoping to work better hours and earn more money, the paperwork associated with being a limited company is a no-go.

To learn more, read our full guide about CQC registration.

Should I Be VAT Registered?

Unlike care services from CQC registered organisations that are VAT Exempt, non-registered services, like those that self-employed carers provide, are subject to 20% VAT. However, the threshold for mandatory VAT registration kicks in at the £85,000 turnover mark, which means that, unless you are working with some exceptionally high-end clients, you probably won’t need to worry about it.

How Does Tax Work?

This is a big subject, but in general, if you are carrying out any self-employed work, you should submit self-assessment tax returns to the government once a year and, after your first year, make tax payments twice a year (if required).

As a self-employed person, there are certain expenses that you can list as costs that will lower your tax bill. For example, the percentage of your car fuel used for business purposes, any electronics used exclusively for business purposes and any materials used while carrying out your work, like PPE equipment, would be allowable expenses.

If you’re not keen on filling in your self-assessment form, you can use a service like https://taxscouts.com/tax-returns/ to ensure that you are as efficient as possible.

Do I Need a Business Bank Account?

While it’s not necessary to have a bank account specifically for your business, when self-employed, it can be a straightforward way to keep track of what you’ve purchased as part of running your business. Having a separate business bank account allows you to quickly calculate expenses for the company at the end of the tax year. It saves you from trawling through personal and business transactions from a single account statement.

Modern bank accounts may also allow you to keep pots of money separate from other money, which can be helpful when keeping track of money spent on each client for food shopping and other necessities.

Liability & Legalities

Insurance

You would be foolish to go into anyone’s home to undertake care work without proper insurance. Whether you accidentally break the washing machine or your client has a fall while you’re in the house, you’ll need to ensure that you are protected.

To learn more, check out our full guide on self-employed carer insurance.

Contracts

No matter how good a working relationship is, it’s always best to put your expectations into a contract so that you and your client understand the situation. Some example areas that your agreement should cover include:

• Notice Periods
• Payment Method
• Tasks to be undertaken

Your contract will be pre-written for each client from a template when you work through an introductory service. This means that the service will handle many of the technicalities of creating a contract for you.

Other documents

Keep your business papers tidy. This includes contracts, bills, tax records, insurance papers, and any proof of qualifications or training. Som glowing references, with contact details, also go al long way to gaining your client’s trust.

Most people have a zipped file with all of this, ready to be emailed out at a moment’s notice. Check out this guide for some helpful tips.

Car Insurance

This one might catch you! If you plan on using your car to transport your clients to and from the doctor’s or other errands, you’ll need to let your insurer know that you’re using the vehicle for business purposes. Failing to do so might result in them not paying out if you are involved in an accident. Business Insurance won’t often cost you more than a few pounds a year; check with your car insurer for details.

Read Up on What You Should and Shouldn’t Do

While your care certificate will have given you the full details on what you can and can’t do while working as a private carer, you might want to re-familiarise yourself with what you are not allowed to do as a carer. It’s also worth considering what things you can refrain from that will make you a significantly more valuable carer.

Read our full article on what carers are not allowed to do.

Finding Clients

Setting your rates

Setting your rates is not as simple as finding out your current agency’s rates and putting it at that. They might be charging £20+ per hour for care, but you’ve got to remember that when a client hires a self-employed carer, they take on other risks.

For example, they take on the responsibility of checking that the carer is qualified for the role and pay the price if they are not.

They also have to worry about what to do if they get sick or can’t make an appointment. If clients were to use an agency, they wouldn’t have to worry about these things. If you’d like to see how much self-employed carers on the PrimeCarers platform take home, then look at our 2022 carer salary report.

Finding Your First Clients

Getting established as a self-employed carer can take a lot of leg work to get word of mouth around a pool of potential clients.

A speedy way to dip your toe in the water is to use an introductory service, like us here at PrimeCarers. An introductory service helps match self-employed carers and private clients helpfully and easily. It also gives self-employed carers a selection of clients that would otherwise have selected an agency carer due to the improved sickness and holiday cover.

When you work with an introductory service, you must pay a fee for each hour of care you do. Here at PrimeCarers, it’s 12.5% for live-in and 15-20% for hourly care. The fee covers; your insurance, advertising for clients, the technology platform, telephone support and bank transaction fees.

Ther ways to find clients include:

• Word of Mouth: Recommendations from friends, family, and previous clients can be a powerful way to find new clients. Don’t underestimate the power of a good recommendation.
• Local Community: Getting involved in your local community can also help you find potential clients. This could involve volunteering at local events or groups or making connections with local healthcare professionals.
• Advertising: You could consider traditional forms of advertising like local newspapers or community bulletin boards. Online advertising on social media can also be effective.

Becoming a Successful Private Carer

The most important thing for a private carer is to be RELIABLE.

Being reliable means you’re always there when you said you would be. You show up on time, at the right place, and do what you promised. If you can do this, you’ll be better than many carers.

Remember, your clients won’t believe your excuses if you don’t show up. Even if they do, they might still think you’re not reliable. This could lead to losing your job. So, being reliable is very important. Learn more about it here.

What Else Makes a Successful Private Carer?

Apart from being reliable, your attitude also matters. A good carer cares about their clients, manages their feelings well, and can handle tough situations.

Key Traits

1. Managing Emotions: As a carer, you’ll face situations that could upset you. It’s important to understand your feelings and know how to handle them. You can read more about this here.
2. Empathy and Compassion: A good carer can understand what their client is feeling. This helps you to give better care and build a strong relationship. Besides helping with physical needs, a carer should also offer emotional support.
3. Patience: Patience is key, especially when caring for older people who may take longer to do things or have trouble expressing their needs. Being patient helps you understand and meet their needs without rushing or getting upset.
4. Communication: Good communication is a must. You need to listen carefully to understand your client’s needs and worries and respond in a calming and clear way. Good communication is also important when talking to family members or healthcare professionals.
5. Problem-Solving: As a carer, you’ll face challenges. Whether it’s a health emergency, a stubborn client, or dealing with other healthcare providers, staying calm, thinking clearly, and finding good solutions are important skills.
6. Respect for Clients’ Independence: It might be easier to do things for your clients, but you should respect their independence. Letting them do things themselves, even if it takes longer, can help them feel better about themselves.

Learn more about what makes a good carer here.

The Reward of Being a Private Carer

Becoming a private carer isn’t just about facing challenges; it’s also about the rewards. As a private carer, you’ll have the opportunity to make a significant difference in someone’s life. You’ll help them maintain their independence, improve their quality of life, and provide the companionship and support they need.

How much are Private carers are Paid

The financial rewards of being a carer can be substantial, according to the Carer Salary Report 2022. On PrimeCarers, top carers have the potential to earn £40,000+ per year, with the average carer earning £35,000+ per annum. For hourly carers, earnings can go up to £20 per hour with an average of £13.90 per hour, outperforming the real living wage for London by up to 25%. The top carer on PrimeCarers takes home

Live-in carers, on average, take home £35,280 per year, exceeding the median household salary of £31,461. Despite the uncertainty of work schedules and the costs associated with travel, the financial reward remains significant.

Strategies to earn more include continuous training, honing skills to handle difficult patients, establishing reliability, maintaining a professional appearance, and demonstrating flexibility. Several carers on PrimeCarers who implement these strategies are earning over £40,000 a year, with the highest earner taking home just over £44,000 in 2021.

These figures underscore the essential role of introductory agencies like PrimeCarers in bridging the funding gap between private payers and carers, ultimately making the caring profession fairer and more financially rewarding for everyone. For those interested in exploring this career path, PrimeCarers offers the opportunity to take control of your pay and hours.

Conclusion

I hope we haven’t put you off becoming a self-employed carer by the length of this article. If you want to become a self-employed carer, why not start by registering with PrimeCarers? It takes about an hour, including an interview, and you can see if it’s right for you.

https://primecarers.co.uk/carer