Where to Find a Live-in Care Job in 2026: Best Routes

The short answer

Three routes, not one job boardRegistering with a platform, joining an employed agency, and finding a family yourself all lead to live-in work, and nothing stops you trying more than one at once.
Who sets your pay depends on the routeOn an introductory platform you set your own weekly rate, from £1,050 on PrimeCarers. An agency sets a wage for you instead.
The checks are the same, arranged differentlyIdentity, right to work, an enhanced DBS check and an online interview are expected wherever you register. Who submits the DBS application, and who else asks for references, is what changes.
Bring your documents to the first visitA family or agency expects to see proof of who you are and that your checks are current before you move in, not a promise to send them later.

Live-in rates are what carers on PrimeCarers advertise, checked 6 September 2026, with our fee already included.

Three routes in

Three ways to find a live-in job

Every live-in carer ends up finding work one of three ways: registering with an introductory platform, being taken on by an employed agency, or finding a family directly. They differ mainly in who finds your next placement, who decides what you are paid, and what admin becomes yours rather than somebody else's.

Register with an introductory platform

You stay self-employed. The platform introduces you to families or matches you to a listed placement, and you agree the terms of each one yourself.

Who finds your next placement: Families search by area on the platform, or a coordinator matches you to a live-in placement it has listed.
Who sets your pay: You set your own weekly rate (from £1,050 on PrimeCarers). The platform's fee comes out of it before you're paid.
What is checked before you start: Identity, right to work, an enhanced DBS certificate kept current on the Update Service, and an online interview.
Your contract: A working agreement for each placement, between you and the family, with the platform handling the paperwork around it.

Work for an employed live-in agency

You're taken on as an employee, usually with PAYE tax handled for you, and the agency's rota decides which family you go to next.

Who finds your next placement: The agency wins the contract with the family and assigns you to it. You do not choose who you work with.
Who sets your pay: A wage set by the agency, usually lower than what it charges the family for the same week.
What is checked before you start: The agency, as your employer, arranges your enhanced DBS check and takes up references as part of hiring you.
Your contract: A standard employment or zero-hours contract with the agency, not with the family you live with.

Find your own live-in clients directly

You advertise yourself on a jobs board or find a client through your own network, and you agree everything about the placement one to one.

Who finds your next placement: You do: through a jobs board, your own network, or a family who has found your listing.
Who sets your pay: Whatever you agree directly with the family. You keep all of it, once you've covered your own tax, DBS route and insurance.
What is checked before you start: Nothing, unless you arrange it yourself. You can only apply for a basic DBS check on your own behalf; an enhanced one needs an umbrella body.
Your contract: Whatever you write yourself. Nothing exists to protect either side unless you put it in writing before the placement starts.

None of the three rules out the others. Registering with a platform does not stop you from also applying to an agency or browsing a jobs board, since you remain self-employed either way. An employment contract with an agency is the one route that usually asks you not to take live-in work elsewhere at the same time, so it is worth reading what you sign before you accept a placement. I want to be a carer, but how? covers the same three routes for care work generally, including hourly and care home roles, if live-in is not the only kind of work you are weighing up.

Introductory platforms

Introductory platforms: what they arrange, and what stays yours

An introductory platform sits between an agency job and going it entirely alone. You stay self-employed, but the platform brings the checks, the introductions and the paperwork that would otherwise be yours to arrange.

A platform typically arranges

Introductions to families, or matching to a live-in placement it has listed
The enhanced DBS route through a registered umbrella body, kept current on the Update Service, plus an online interview
Insurance cover while you are working, if you do not already hold your own

Still yours to do

Deciding what kind of live-in care you will take on, such as hoisting, medication or a couple
Agreeing days off and handover with the family directly, since the platform is not managing a rota for you
Your own tax and National Insurance, since you remain self-employed throughout

On PrimeCarers, you set your own weekly rate for live-in work, typically £1,050 to £1,750 depending on the kind of care, with our fee already inside that figure rather than added on top. How much can carers earn on PrimeCarers? breaks the full range down by the kind of live-in work. Elder and Curam Care work on a similar model for live-in placements specifically: you register, pass their checks, and are matched to or apply for a placement they have listed, rather than posting a profile for families to find themselves. Check what each currently expects from you on their own registration pages, since requirements change.

Employed agencies

Employed agencies: a wage instead of a rate you set

A live-in care agency is the traditional route in, and it works differently from a platform in one basic way: you become an employee rather than staying self-employed.

A wage, not a rate you choose

The agency sets your pay and deducts tax and National Insurance through PAYE before it reaches you, rather than you setting a rate and paying your own tax afterwards.

The rota decides who you go to next

The agency wins the contract with a family and assigns you to it. You do not search for or choose your own placements the way you would on a platform.

Checks arranged by your employer

As your employer, the agency submits your enhanced DBS application and takes up references, rather than you registering for a check yourself.

Often steadier, sometimes less choice

Guaranteed hours and being covered while you are between placements can come with an employment contract in a way self-employment does not, in exchange for less say over which family you are sent to.

Helping Hands is one of the larger UK live-in care employers, and it takes this route: carers are employed directly rather than self-employed, with a wage and a contract rather than a rate the carer chooses. Whatever agency you apply to, ask the same three questions before you accept a role: what the guaranteed hours are, how far you may be asked to travel between placements, and how much notice either side has to give.

Finding clients yourself

Jobs boards and finding a live-in client directly

The most independent route is finding a family yourself, usually through a jobs board built for care and personal assistance work, or through people who already know you. It suits a carer who is already confident working self-employed rather than someone taking on their first live-in placement, since every check, introduction and piece of paperwork that a platform or agency would otherwise arrange becomes yours to sort out alone.

General care and domestic jobs boards

Sites such as Care.com list live-in and elderly care jobs alongside childcare and other domestic work, posted directly by families across the UK.

Boards built around direct employment

PA Pool matches personal assistants and carers directly with disabled or older people who are employing somebody themselves, rather than going through an agency or platform.

Word of mouth and your own network

A family who already trusts a carer they know is often the easiest client to find, and a lot of live-in work is still arranged this way. It is also the route with the least vetting on either side, so treat a personal introduction with the same checks as a stranger.

With little live-in experience behind you, a jobs board or your own network leaves you with less to fall back on if a placement turns out to be more than you can manage, since nobody has matched you to it or checked what it involves beforehand. Finding a client yourself also means writing your own agreement covering the rate, the days off pattern, and what happens if either side wants to end the placement, since nothing is written for you the way a platform's paperwork is. Self-employed carer documents lists what to have ready, and do self-employed carers need to be registered with CQC? answers the question a family often asks when they are hiring a live-in carer directly for the first time.

Before you start

What to have ready before your first placement

Whichever route brought you the placement, a family expects to see the same handful of things before you move in, and it is worth having them ready rather than promising to send them on later.

Before you turn up for a live-in placement

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Documents to bring

Proof of identity, such as a passport or driving licenceThe same document you used to register, so it matches what the family or agency has on file.
Your enhanced DBS certificate, or proof it is current on the Update ServiceA family is entitled to see this before you move in. A platform or agency should be able to confirm it is current if you cannot bring the physical certificate.
References from previous care work, paid or unpaidA character reference from someone outside your family helps when you have limited paid experience to point to.

What to agree in writing before you travel

The rate or wage, and how often it is paidWeekly, for most live-in placements. Get this agreed before you set off for the placement, not once you arrive.
The days off pattern and who covers youLive-in care is not worked around the clock alone. Most placements build in regular breaks covered by a second carer, and it is worth knowing who that will be.
Notice on both sidesOn PrimeCarers this is 7 days once 168 hours have been worked, 48 hours before that point. If you have found a client yourself, write your own notice period into the agreement before the placement starts.

How to start

From this page to your first live-in placement

Four steps, and the first two do not cost anything beyond your time.

1
Decide which route, or routes, to try
Today
Weigh a platform, an agency and going it alone against how much control you want over which families you work with and how you are paid. Nothing stops you registering with more than one, unless an agency contract says otherwise.
2
Sort your DBS route
This week
Apply for a basic check yourself if that is all a route needs, or register with a platform, an agency or an umbrella body if you need the fuller, enhanced check that live-in work calls for.
3
Register or apply
Free
Set up a profile on a platform, apply to an agency, or list yourself on a jobs board, with your experience, availability and the kind of live-in care you are prepared to take on written out plainly.
4
Agree the first placement in writing
Before you travel
Rate or wage, days off, notice, and what happens if the placement ends early, all settled before you pack. [What to have ready](#ready) covers the rest.

Questions

Questions carers ask about finding live-in work

Registering with an introductory platform is usually the quickest way in, since the checks, the introductions and the paperwork are arranged for you and you stay self-employed. An employed agency suits carers who want a fixed wage and a rota built for them. Finding a family directly gives you the most control but the least support, since every check and every term of the agreement is yours to arrange.

If you are self-employed, usually yes. Registering with a platform does not stop you applying to another platform, an agency or a jobs board at the same time. An employment contract with an agency is the exception, since it may ask you not to take live-in work elsewhere while you are employed by them, so check what you sign before you accept.

You need one to satisfy most families, platforms and agencies, though nothing in law forces a private carer to hold one. You cannot apply for an enhanced check on your own behalf; it has to be submitted by an employer, a platform or a registered umbrella body. Enhanced DBS and the Update Service explains how the certificate and the Update Service subscription work together.

On PrimeCarers, live-in rates typically start from £1,050 a week and rise to £1,750 or more for complex or specialist care, with our fee already included in the figure you set. An employed agency sets a wage instead, usually lower than the day rate it charges the family. How much can carers earn on PrimeCarers? has the full breakdown.

It can be, provided you treat your own vetting as seriously as a platform would. Arrange your own enhanced DBS route through an umbrella body, ask for the same identity and right to work checks a family would expect, and write the agreement down before you travel to the placement, since nothing protects either side otherwise.

On a platform you stay self-employed, set your own rate, and choose the families you work with, and the platform takes a service fee out of the rate you set. With an agency you are usually employed, the agency finds the work and sets your wage, and it arranges your DBS check as your employer. I want to be a carer, but how? compares the two routes for care work generally.

Where to find a live-in care job