The short answer
- Driving to clients is business use, not commutingAn ordinary social, domestic and pleasure policy stops at getting there yourself. Visiting different clients each day is business use, often called Class 1.
- Charging mileage adds hire and rewardBusiness use covers the driving. It does not cover being paid to carry a passenger, which is what charging for a client's journey turns it into.
- PrimeCarers covers the visit, not the drive therePublic liability cover is arranged for each visit booked through the platform if you do not already have your own. Your car and your own injury are not part of that.
- Getting it wrong costs more than a policy wouldDriving without the cover a trip needs carries a fixed penalty of £300 and 6 points, and an insurer can refuse a claim outright.
Insurance rules and the gov.uk penalty figures on this page are checked as of 6 September 2026. Cover for your own circumstances can only be confirmed by your own insurer, so treat this as a starting point for that call rather than as insurance advice.
The cover you need
The four covers a home carer might need, in order
Nothing licenses this job the way a driving instructor or a taxi driver is licensed, so nothing forces you to hold a particular policy before your first visit. That does not make the choice optional. Here is where each cover sits, from the one nearly every home carer needs to the one that protects you rather than the person you look after.
- 1Always, if you drive to visits
Business use car insurance
Covers driving to and between clients rather than only social, domestic or commuting trips. Needed whether you drive your own car or a client’s.
Who arranges it: You, with your own insurer or as a named driver
- 2Only if you charge or claim mileage for a trip
Hire and reward cover
Covers carrying a client as a passenger on a journey you are paid for. Business use alone does not include this.
Who arranges it: You, confirmed in writing with the insurer
- 3Not compulsory, strongly worth having
Public liability insurance
Covers a claim if a client or their property is harmed by something you did while working, such as a fall you caused or an accident with an appliance.
Who arranges it: PrimeCarers, per visit booked through the platform, if you do not already have your own
- 4Not compulsory, protects you rather than the client
Personal accident insurance
Pays out if you are injured while working and cannot earn, since a self-employed carer has no sick pay to fall back on. Public liability protects the client, not you.
Who arranges it: You, through a specialist broker
None of this is checked before you appear in a search. PrimeCarers checks your identity, your right to work and runs an enhanced DBS check kept current on the Update Service, and every carer has an online interview, and I want to be a carer, but how? covers those checks in full. Insurance sits alongside them rather than inside them, which is why it is worth sorting before your first booking rather than after it.
Business use
Business use car insurance, whichever car you drive
Car insurance is priced by what a car is used for, not only by who is driving it, and a personal policy that has never been asked to cover paid work will not stretch to it just because nothing has gone wrong yet. These are the four classes that decide what a carer needs, moving from ordinary personal driving to a policy that expects a paid passenger.
Social, domestic and pleasure
Personal driving only
Plus commuting
One regular workplace
Business use, often called Class 1
For driving that is part of the job
Hire and reward
For carrying a paying passenger
If you drive your own car, ring your insurer and ask for business use, and say plainly that the driving is paid care work rather than a commute, since a vague description gets a vague answer. If you are asked to drive a client's car instead, the policy and the named drivers on it belong to them, not you, and can a live-in carer take a client out in a car? sets out what changes when that is the arrangement, including what a client needs to add to their own policy before you get behind the wheel. Carer car insurance: what you need to know covers the same four classes from a family's side of the arrangement, which is worth knowing if a client asks you what to check for.
Charging for mileage
Hire and reward, if you charge or claim mileage for a client's journey
Business use answers one question: can you drive as part of your job. It does not answer whether you can be paid for carrying a client while you do it, and that second question only comes up once mileage is charged or claimed for a trip.
What to check with your own insurer
0 of 4 ticked
If you charge or claim mileage for a trip
Whatever is agreed
Beyond the car
Public liability and personal accident cover for the work itself
Car insurance protects the drive there. It says nothing about what happens once you are inside somebody's home, whether that is an accident you cause or an injury you suffer while working.
Public liability insurance
Protects the client, not you
Personal accident insurance
Protects you, not the client
PrimeCarers arranges public liability cover for each visit booked through the platform, if you do not already have your own; I want to be a carer, but how? sets out what else changes if you register through a platform instead of going fully independent. That cover does not extend to your own injury or to the car you drive there in, which is why the two covers above sit alongside it rather than replace it. Some specialist carer policies also add professional indemnity, covering a claim that something you did or advised caused a client financial loss, though this matters less for a carer who is not offering medical or financial advice as part of the job. Brokers such as Simply Business quote carer-specific policies alongside other self-employed cover, and the only reliable premium is the one your own circumstances are quoted, not a figure quoted for somebody else's policy.
Platform or independent
What PrimeCarers arranges for you, and what stays yours to sort
Registering through a platform and going fully independent are not the same insurance admin, and it helps to see the whole list side by side.
PrimeCarers arranges
- Public liability cover for each visit booked through the platform, if you do not already have your own
- The enhanced DBS route through a registered umbrella body, kept current on the Update Service
- Identity and right to work checked once, not for every new client
Yours to sort, on a platform or alone
- Business use car insurance, on your own car or as a named driver on a client's car
- Hire and reward cover, if you charge or claim mileage for a client's journey
- Personal accident insurance, covering your own injury and lost income
- Public liability cover for any work you take on outside a visit booked through the platform
Neither route is wrong. Going fully independent, or taking on clients outside the platform as well, means arranging every cover on the right yourself. Working through PrimeCarers narrows that list to business use insurance for your own driving, hire and reward if you charge mileage, and personal accident cover if you want it, while the liability cover, the DBS route and the checks are arranged once rather than for every new client. Self-employed carer documents lists what else to have ready alongside your insurance.
Getting covered
How to get covered before your first visit
Four steps, and none of them need to wait for your first booking.
- 1
Ring your insurer and say exactly what the car is used for
Before your first visitSay whether it is business use, hire and reward, or both, and name the job: paid care work, carrying a client. A vague description gets a vague answer. - 2
Ask for it in writing
Before the first driveA certificate of insurance or a confirmation email, not a verbal assurance from a call centre. Keep it with the car. - 3
Decide on personal accident cover
This weekWeigh what a few weeks without income would cost you against a specialist policy's premium. Public liability and PrimeCarers' cover protect a client's claim against you, not your own injury. - 4
Review it whenever anything changes
OngoingA different car, a new client who wants to be driven, or taking on work outside the platform can all change what your policy needs to say. Most insurers can adjust cover mid-term for a small administration charge.
Questions
Questions carers ask about insurance
Yes, if you drive to or between clients as part of the job. Standard social, domestic and pleasure cover, even with commuting added, does not include driving that is part of paid work. That needs business use, often called Class 1, on your own car.
Hire and reward covers carrying somebody as a passenger on a journey you are paid for. You need it in addition to business use only if you charge or claim mileage for a trip that carries a client. If you never charge for a journey, hire and reward should not be needed, though it is still worth confirming your policy covers carrying a passenger at all.
No. PrimeCarers arranges public liability cover for each visit booked through the platform, if you do not already have your own, but that covers a claim from a client, not your car or your own driving. Business use and hire and reward, if you need them, are yours to arrange with your own insurer.
Not for the visits themselves: PrimeCarers arranges cover for each visit booked through the platform if you do not already have your own. If you also take on clients outside the platform, whether privately or through another route, that cover does not extend to them and you would need to arrange your own.
It is treated in law the same as driving with no insurance at all. The police can issue a fixed penalty of £300 and 6 penalty points on the spot, and the vehicle can be seized. A case that goes to court can bring an unlimited fine and disqualification. An insurer can also refuse a claim outright if the use at the time does not match the policy, which is the point it matters most. Driving without insurance, on gov.uk.
It is not compulsory, but it is worth thinking through. As a self-employed carer you have no employer's sick pay if you are injured and cannot work, and public liability insurance protects a client's claim against you rather than your own income. A specialist broker can quote a policy against your own circumstances.
Not usually, and not on a "driving other cars" extension if your own policy has one, since that is normally third-party only and rarely covers business use. The more reliable route is being added as a named driver on the client's own policy, with business use added to it. Can a live-in carer take a client out in a car? goes through this in detail.
It varies by insurer, by your driving history and by the mileage expected, so there is no single figure that applies to every policy. Ask your insurer directly for a quote against the exact use, rather than budgeting from a number quoted elsewhere. This page is general information, not insurance advice.